A matter of trust
by pikachuevolves34
Summary: Harry finds himself participating in the Nonary game: Ambidex edition as an extra player. But why is he there and why does he have these random flashbacks? In a game of life and death who does he trust? Rated for swearing.
1. Beginning

I don't own Harry Potter or Virtue's Last Reward.

Beginning

A series of images flashed through Harry's mind. A castle, a building in the middle of nowhere. Graves, lots of graves. Then a white gas. Stretching, Harry forced his eyes open and looked blearily around the empty room. His head was about to explode.

"Where am I?" Placing his hands on the floor, Harry pushed himself to his feet then stared at the watch on his wrist. It was big, bulky and showed a 3 and solo, both in black. Pressing the two buttons on the side did nothing. Neither did any amount of twisting, pulling or anything else Harry could think of. "What is going on? The last thing I remember, it was 1991 and I was looking forward to Hogwarts."

A memory hit him. A part of a conversation.

_"You know why you're doing this."_

_"Yes. To provide a random variable and so I can project back into the past as well as guide Phi and Sigma. I may not like the danger this project is putting people into but it concerns the fate of the world. It's their comfort or allowing the extinction of humanity. Nos fortuna nostra"_

"What the hell?" Normally, Harry wouldn't swear but he felt the situation required it.

Pressing the buttons on the nearby panel did nothing.

"Is this elevator broken?" The screen lit up. "Finally something's happening."

"How're feeling Hattie? Woken up yet?"

"Lagomorph." Harry grabbed his head as he stared at the rabbit. "How do I know that?"

"Hattie, I'm Zero III, the king of this kingdom! And I'd appreciate you not telling anybunny about what you've heard. Otherwise I'd have to kill you. Anyway, you have a game to play. The NONARY GAME! AMBIDEX EDITION!"

"You always had a weird sense of humour. And did you have to shout that last bit?"

"And this elevator is going to fall in a few minutes. See ya around."

The rabbit disappeared causing Harry to grumble about rabbits and being too impatient.

"What is going on around here? Why is this happening to me?"

Looking around, Harry tried to open the fire extinguisher to see if he could try and bash the door down but it was locked. Taking the ends of the rails and the picture of old men and babies, Harry squinted at the small pictures above the railings as he grabbed the pin from the fire extinguisher before counting the number of the image on the poster and pressing the buttons.

Turning back to the panel with the screen, he pressed zero and a card came out. Collecting it, he pressed 3 and another came out. He opened the case with the pin and took the sockets before combining them with the handles and taking the grate off the wall. Pulling the box out, he guided the green box to the exit and got another memory card. Placing them in the machine at the back, he received two codes. Inputting the codes into the safe, he received a key and some files. Flipping through the doors, Harry frowned at the information.

"What is happening in the world?"

Placing the key in the panel at the front, Harry pressed the button and prepared to clamber up through the hatch at the top.

"Hattie."

"Huh?" Harry frowned back to the screen. "Zero?"

"Don't forget. Whatever you see or hear that others can't, don't say. If you keep quiet, more of your memories will unlock. Are they really memories or figments of your imagination? And keep close to Siggy."

"Right. Might as well. Otherwise you'll just kill me, right?"

"See ya Hattie. I'll be watching."

Harry clambered out and jumped down to the floor of the warehouse.

"No one else here. Lagomorph, were you screwing with me?"

People started coming out.

"Anyone know what's going on?" Harry turned and looked at the man and the white haired girl from his position atone of the coloured doors. They both seemed familiar.

_Phi and Sigma. Wait, how did I know that? I've never seen them before._

"No, we don't," said the Egyptian woman. "I haven't been out here much longer than you. Maybe that kid knows."

"I don't know any more than you do. Sorry." Harry hated lying.

"They grabbed you too?" asked the old man as Harry walked over.

"Grabbed? Oh... I got in my car then there was this white smoke."

"I think we all got that particular experience," said the red haired woman. "Like a general anaesthetic. I woke up in one of those rooms."

_I didn't. I just walked into the AB room and got given a mild sedative as well as something to make me forget. Or was it something worse that I was unaware of?_

"All of you were in one room?" asked Sigma.

"No," said the boy. "Me and Mr Dio were in the same elevator but..."

"Who's Dio?" asked Sigma.

"That's me." The blond man rose his hand. "And the midget is Quark."

"Nice to meet you," said the kid.

"Uh, nice to meet you too. What about the rest of you?"

"Tenmyouji, Alice and Luna wrote up in different rooms," explained Dio.

"As did I," added Harry. "I'm Harry."

"That's correct," said Tenmyouji.

"So, you're Tenmyouji."

"Yup."

"And Alice is?"

"Me," said the Egyptian woman. "And she's Luna."

"Hello," said the red haired lady nervously.

"And you're?" asked Dio.

"I'm Sigma and this bundle of laughs is Phi."

"What did you say?" asked Phi in a dangerous tone of voice.

"And this malnourished harpy is Phi. Better?"

"Stop arguing you two," said Harry as he shook his head. "You're like a married couple."

"Can I see your bracelets?" asked Tenmyouji. The three held out their arms. Harry looked at the red threes and pair. "I thought so. Quark and Dio, show them yours."

Dio and Quark had a blue pair.

"They're different. You have a blue pair and we have a red pair."

The others showed their hearts. A red, green and blue solo.

"There's no other blacks. Have they come out yet?" wondered Harry.

"What does all this mean?" asked Sigma.

"I think Zero will tell us," said Harry with a shrug. "That rabbit. It could be for that game of his."

"Oh yeah... You saw him too?"

"Yep."

"He said something about the elevator falling," added Quark.

Harry closed his eyes as the others explained that they'd tested all the doors and we're about to test the one with nine in when Sigma and Phi assisted. They tried to open it but nothing happened. The mechanism came up with an error when Sigma tried it.

"There's still someone in there," said Harry as he looked back at the elevator. "The left one."

Alice nodded and spelled out Harry's reasoning, explaining that that there was only one room that hadn't been opened. They ran over and made some noise.

"Ambidex room," read out Harry from the sign at the top of the room. "There's a plaque with that name on all of them. Are they the same things? Like having multiple copies of something."

"Is that some kind of card reader?" asked Luna as she looked at the device on the wall. "That's one on all of the rooms."

_She knows. Better keep an eye on her._

"Looks like one but I don't think we have the cards," said Harry as he searched his empty pockets. "That would be too easy, I think."

"What do you think an Ambidex room is?" asked Dio.

"Something to do with the game," said Harry with a shrug. "It has to be otherwise it wouldn't be here. I think everything that's happening here has to do with the game"

Everyone searched their pockets but came out clean. The hatch opened and a man with armour jumped out, carrying a pink haired girl.

_Kyle and Clover. This is Clover's third Nonary game that I know of. _Harry shook his head to clear the confusion but said nothing.

"What the... who the hell?" asked Sigma of no one.

"Cover!" Alice ran over and shook the girl violently as Harry watched in a bemused confusion. "Are you ok? Cover! What did you do to get?!"

"Nothing probably. She's like we were," said Harry with a shrug. He was shrugging a lot today.

"She was like that when I woke up," agreed the man. "I wouldn't worry. She'll be fine. Get breathing is steady so I believe she's only sleeping."

"Then she hasn't woken up since she was kidnapped?" asked Tenmyouji.

"Kidnapped?" asked the man in confusion. "I don't understand. Where are we? Who are you?"

"That's what happened to us," said Harry as he stretched and shook the sleep out of his eyes. "And we could ask you the same. You might have an idea."

"I think you owe us an explanation," added Sigma. "You jump out with an unconscious girl and we only have your word that you didn't do anything to her."

"Who am I?" The man gave an air of confusion. Everyone started. "I don't remember anything. I don't know where I am, what day out is out who I am. If you know, please tell. It's rather vexing to not know who I am."

"Oh, very original! The amnesic routine!" growled Dio. Harry shivered as everyone fell silent. There was something wrong with that man. It was like was out to get them. "Please. How are we supposed to take you seriously when you're wearing this? The robot suit. Are you telling us that someone forced you into that thing?"

"I assume so. It's a reasonable explanation. When I woke up, I was wearing this."

_He's worn it every day of his life. _Harry turned his head away so they couldn't see his expression and suspect him of anything.

"You look pretty calm for someone who doesn't know who he is," said Tenmyouji.

"Look? How do you know how I look?" asked the man.

"You know what I mean."

"She's waking up!" Cover groaned as Alice called over to them. "Clover. Are you ok? Speak to me."

"Alice... where are we?"

Alice explained everything to Clover as Harry sat down by the wall of the warehouse.

"What? No, that can't..." The blood drained from the girl's face as Alice started to console the girl.

"When did you lose your memory?" asked Tenmyouji.

"Bit of a stupid question old man," said Harry. "He can't remember."

The adults continued to question the man.

"I think he had generalised amnesia," said Luna. "Doesn't affect things like language, coming sense, facts. But anything about themselves is lost. Research suggests that it psychological but it can occur from severe head trauma."

"Bullshit! This guy's faking it!"

"Shut up Dio. I don't want to hear your voice," called Harry as he studied the man's bracelet. The amour sounded it like a glove but as far as he could tell, it worked the same as everyone else's. The text matches Clover's. "Looks like I'm the only black."

Time passed and Harry didn't know how long they'd been there. It could have been days, hours or minutes. There was no way to tell and the wall was getting uncomfortable. Sigma tried a coloured door but nothing happened.

"I just hoped it worked and would open," he explained to Quark.

"Do you think the looking mechanism is like the ones on the elevators?" suggested Luna. "I don't think it's a card reader though."

"What do you think the graffiti is?" asked Quark as Harry fiddled with his bracelet. "The graffiti on the wall."

"I was wondering what that was to," said Luna.

"Two milkmen go comedy," ready Harry as he looked at the red letters. They looked like they'd been written in blood.

"Maybe it means that two milkmen became comedians," suggested Sigma. "Still didn't make any sense though."

"What do you think Phi?" asked Harry to the girl.

"Why do you think I know anything?" asked Phi defensively.

"I don't know. But maybe you have an opinion," said Harry as he attempted to placate the girl. "You haven't said anything in a while."

"I was just thinking about your bracelet." Cocking his head, Harry stared at the girl. "You're the only black. I wonder what that means."

_To provide a random variable, project back into the past and to guide Phi and Sigma. _

Harry remembered that fragment but out loud, Harry said "I have no idea."

He didn't want to die just yet after all. There was too big of a mystery around and he could tell everyone after the game was finished.

"Hmm." Phi looked suspicious but dropped it.

_What is going on here? It's like some kind of, I don't know, conspiracy._

"It could be someone's way of saying hello," suggested Tenmyouji.

"It's an anagram," said Phi out of the blue.

"An Ana-Gram?" asked Sigma.

"Anagram. A word game," explained Harry as he sent Sigma a 'are you stupid?' look. Phi sighed and wrote two sentences in the dusty floor.

"Welcome to my kingdom."

"Someone was expecting us," said Tenmyouji.

"Well, that's obvious. Why all the mystery though?" asked Harry of no one.

"And why don't they offer us a drink?" asked Sigma.

"That's assuming that they're not one of us," said Phi. Everyone went into a state of shook.

"He he." Laughter echoed through the room as a projector switched on to show Zero. "Shame on you Phido. You can't say what I'm about to say before I say it."

"Zero..."

"I've got a plan. I can't tell you everything at once. Although things are going to get exciting."

"Sure they are," Harry drawled.

"Oh, be quiet Hattie."

"Where are you, you little bastard?" asked Dio angrily. "Too scared to come out and face me like a man?"

"Selfish," muttered Harry.

"Are you an idiot?" asked Zero. "I'm a rabbit. You really think a talking rabbit is a real thing?"

"Of course I don't!" yelled Dio. "You're sine kind of CG rabbit. That's not what I meant."

"Oh, you meant you want to see the person controlling me?" asked Zero. "I guess God touched this one a little too hard."

"What?!"

"Weren't you listening to Phido? She's clever.

"Wait... You're saying Zero is one of us?" asked Sigma.

"Well, that's one way of putting it," said the rabbit.

"Are you really sure?" asked Quark. "You're responding to our questions right now. That means you're not a video. Wouldn't that mean that Zero would be sending you answers?"

"I think our bunny friend is an AI," said Harry.

"Don't spoil the surprise Hattie. But I am an AI powered by a quantum computer though. Zero is the one who built me. So, that makes one or you my parent! Now, are you a mommy or a daddy? That would be telling. Oh, also Zero's assistant is here to help them out. And I'm not the one who brought you here. I don't even have a body. I'm just the facilitator for this facility. I do what I'm told to do."

"And what do you facilitate?" asked Luna.

"That's obvious," muttered Harry.

"Didn't I say?" asked Zero. "The game."

"The Nonary game, Ambidex edition?" asked Sigma.

"Correct. It's my job to make sure it runs smoothly."

"No," whispered Clover. "It's supposed to be over."

"So, what is the Nonary game?" asked Quark.

"Nonary refers to a base nine numeral system but can be used to refer to sending that is connected to the number nine," explained the masked man. "Nona can be used as a prefix to mean the same thing. The means that the game is one that revolves around the number nine."

"Exactly," said Zero. "Nine is a very important number in this game. After all, nine is your goal."

"I take it that the number on our bracelets had to reach nine?" asked Harry.

"Stop doing it Hattie. I may have to do that something..."

Harry shut up.

"Anyway, that door with the nine? That's your door. If you open the door with a nine in it, you can get out."

"What do we have to do to open it?" asked Luna.

"Let me explain. Look at your left wrists." Everyone looked at them. "You see the bracelet? Of course you do. Now, tell me Phido, what number is on yours?"

"A three."

"And the rest of you?"

"All the same. All threes."

"Exactly. I'm calling these numbers bracelet points. Or BP for short. Only people who have nine or more points can open the door and escape. See the box on the wall?" Everyone looked at it. "That's how you'll get out. Anyone who had at least nine BP can open that door and escape. However, there are the rules that you can't forget. One, the number nine for will stay open for nine seconds. Two, the door only opens once. It will close for good after that. Three. You may be thinking about sneaking out. That's not lappin. Anyone who tries to sneak out well get a big penalty."

"And what did that mean?" asked Dio.

"I'll tell you later."

"Um?"

"Yes?" asked the rabbit.

"Why did you start saying rabbit puns?" asked Luna.

"Cause I felt like it. I thought it might make me sound cute."

"Never mind that," interrupted Tenmyouji. "You haven't told you how to get more BP points."

"Just use the Ambidex rooms. You can always call it the AB room."

"You mean those, uh..." Quark looked for a word. "Elevators?"

"Gold star."

"So how do we use them?" asked Alice.

"You go in. Like you do with any other room."

"You mean through those hatches?" asked Sigma.

"No. I had a hutch that you might try that so I sealed them up. So don't be hatching any hatch plans. I live in the master computer. That means the electronic doors in the whole warren are under my control."

"How do we get in them?" asked Dio. "We tried the door. They're looked."

"There's a card reader next to each one, right?" asked Zero. "Slide a card through and it will unlock."

"Where do we find them?" asked the masked man.

Harry ran through hand signs.

"We don't have them and there weren't any in the warehouse..." Tenmyouji trailed off.

"Well, of course there won't be any there."

"Then where are they?" asked Luna.

"Through the chromatic doors."

"Chromatic doors?" asked Luna in confusion.

"Right hare. The three pretty doors."

"Huh?" Muttered Quark as Everyone looked at the doors. "Hold on... I thought those doors were locked."

"Quirk."

"What?"

"You see those buttons on the side of your watch? Press them at the same time."

"Why?" asked Quark curiously.

"To make boys ask questions. Just press them please. In fact, everybunny should press them."

Everyone did just that.

"Hey, what's this number?" asked Sigma.

"It looks like the time," added Harry. "Like a digital watch. Hours on the left and minutes on the right."

"Does that mean it's ten past twelve in the morning?" asked Alice.

"No." The ten changed to a nine.

"The numbers are going down," observed Quark.

"It's fine from ten minutes to nine," added the masked man.

"It's counting down to something, right?" asked Luna.

"Correct. I don't need to explain the rest, do I?"

"I'm guessing that's the time until the chromatic doors unlock?" asked Tenmyouji.

"Ding, ding, ding, ding! Very impressive Tenmyoldy. Lettuce review what we've learnt. In nine minutes, the chromatic doors will open automatically. However, just like the number nine door, they went stay open forever. You have five minutes. Once the time is up, they close so I hop you make your decision by then. That's just the primary door."

"What?" asked Alice in surprise.

"Each door in this warren has a twin. Isn't that nice? The chromatic doors aren't any different. You've got one door on this side, one in the other. The secondary chromatic door is locked too."

"Couldn't make it easy for us, could you..." muttered Tenmyouji.

"Of course, you'll have to split up."

"Split up?" asked Quark.

"Yep. Cleaver, can you tell me what the three primary colours are?"

"What are you asking me?"

"You haven't talked to me. I try to communicate to as many people as possible. It helps me improve. I'm trying to get into the rabbit of doing it all the time. Now, answer my question. What are the three primary colours?"

"You mean red, green and blue? You're supposed to make any colour by mixing them."

"So what colours would you mix to make magenta?"

"Red and blue."

"Yellow?"

"Green and red."

"Cyan?"

"Green and blue."

"That's right! Now take another look at the bracelets you're wearing. Notice how they come in the vibrant colours?"

"Tech. We get it. The red and blue bracelets open the magenta door, green and red open the yellow door and blue and green open the cyan door. I miss anything?"

"Uh, mine's black," said Harry with a frown. "How did that work?"

"You can go through any door you like. It makes you a random variable. There's something else too."

"_To be a random variable." _That was what was said in that memory.

"You're taking about what happens if you've got two of the same colour, right?" asked Tenmyouji.

"Yep. What do you think happens?"

"How the hell would I know?"

"Off you want to open a door with just one colour, you can open the door with the complementary colour."

"I see... if you've got a red and red, you can open the cyan door, blue and blue will open the yellow door and green will open the magenta door."

"Right again! Looks like your brain hasn't rotted yet Tenmyouldy."

"What's that meant to mean?"

"Exactly what I said. I was trying for a compliment..." Tenmyouji glared at him. "Let's continue. There's two types of bracelets. Pairs and solos. That means there are two types of players too. Pairs and solos. In this game, the two members of a pair are considered as one so they share a destiny. Isn't that good? You get two for the price of one. It also means they can't split up. Both have to go through the same chromatic door. Solos don't have that restriction. Why would they? They're alone. That means they can go wherever they want. Let's have a look at your bracelet Siggy. What colour is yours?"

"Red," muttered Sigma.

"Pair or solo?"

"Pair."

"Phi is next."

"It's the same," said Phi.

"You, Alas?"

"A red solo."

"B.O.? Quirk?"

"Blue, pair," said Dio reluctantly.

"Same."

"Moony, Cleaver, Tenmyoldy. All at once."

"Blue solo." Luna.

"Green pair." Clover.

"Green solo." Tenmyouji.

"And... who are you?" The rabbit started at the masked man.

"I'm, uh... let's see... I suppose you can call me K."

"I knew it! You were lying about that amnesia crap!" cried Dio.

"I'm not lying. This was just... a flash of insight. I saw the letter K."

"So? What does K have to do with anything?"

"I wish I knew."

"Maybe it had something to do with your name," suggested Harry. "It could have started with a k."

"Possibly."

"I'm guessing K's bracelet is the same as Clover's," said Alice as she brought her hand to her face.

"Yes."

"Finally, Hattie!"

"A black solo," muttered Harry. Dio stared at him with a glint in his eye.

"I'm glad we got that out of the way! Now, lettuce return to the subject at hand. How do you open the secondary door? So, Siggy, how would you get through the magenta door?"

"Well, me and Phi can't split," said Sigma thoughtfully. "We could go with Luna or Harry."

"Or you could come with me and Mr Dio," suggested Quark. "We're blue too."

"Whoops! Oh, celerysticks, I forgot to tell you. You have to have three people in your groups to happen the secondary door."

"How did that work?" asked Harry in confusion and worry. "There's ten of us and ten didn't go into three. There's one left over."

"Well, the secondary do well open when it detects the right colour combination, excluding black. The black bracelet will work only with a group of three."

"Then our only choice is to pair up with Luna," says Sigma.

"Pretty much. And the secondary door will only open when the primary for it is closed. It's designed to keep out cheaters. We don't want extra players running in at the last minute. I may have run a hare too long in my explanation. Any questions?"

Running over everything in his head, Harry frowned.

"You mentioned a penalty. What is it?"

"What's the point of the game? Why us? Where are we? And who is the real Zero?"

**"Chromatic doors have now opened. Give minutes regain until doors close."**

The doors slid open as the announcement echoed through the room.

"Looks like your times up. You're better get to it and get those doors opened."

"Fuck that. We aren't going to open shit!" Harry raised an eyebrow at Dio's language.

"Fuck you Dio." The words slipped out of his mouth. "We don't have much of a choice."

"If anyone is left outside after the doors close, they'll be..." Zero trailed off, increasing the tension.

"They'll what?" asked Quark.

"Penalised."

"What the hell is the penalty anyway?" asked Dio.

"Death." That shut everyone up. "Your bracelets contain two drugs. The first is an anaesthetic called Soporil β. The other is a relaxant called Tubocurarine. Your bracelet also has a bunch of needles. If you break the rules, the needles hop out and inject you. First with the Soporil which puts you to sleep. Nine minutes later, the Tubocurarine is injected and numbs your respiratory muscles. I guess you could say that it will take your breath soporil is there it if the kindness of Zero's heart. I mean the real zero, not me. Zero didn't want to start anybunny suffer. Isn't that so compassionate? If I had a heart, it would be melting. Anyway, you'll be dying pretty painlessly. There's nothing to worry about. If you follow the rules, that won't happen."

"You do have a weird sense of humour." Harry shook his head.

"**Three minutes left until chromatic doors close."**

"Looks like it's time for me to hop out of here. See you later. Have a nice trap."

The projector turned off.

"What the fuck?" Harry knew it was rude to swear but it wasn't a normal day. First he got stuck in a elevator, then told it was going to fall if he didn't get out in time then he found himself in a warehouse goodness knows where with a death threat then now he had to pay some stupid game. For some reason, he was oddly calm.

_Stay with Siggy._

"What are we going to do?" asked Luna desperately. "We have to go. We have to use these doors."

"But how do we know which for to do though?" asked Quark.

"You still don't get it?" asked Phi. "Fine, just pay attention. We don't have much time. Zero's explanation was pretty confusing so I'll put it in small words. There are three possible options for the main groups."

Phi continued to explain. The red pair girls go with the blue solo through the magenta door. The red solo would go with the green pair through the yellow door. The green style would go through the blue pair through the cyan door.

Another option was the red pair going with the green solo through the yellow door. The red solo would go with the blue pair through the magenta door. The green pair world go with the blue solo through the cyan door.

The last option was the reds paring up to go through the cyan door, the blues paring up to go through the yellow door and the greens going through the magenta door.

"And these options don't include Harry who goes where he pleases. Which ones do we choose?"

"I think I'll stick with Sigma. For some reason, I trust him," said Harry truthfully. As well as being threatened by an AI. That was a factor.

"Please Sigma, choose something," begged Luna.

"WHY ME?" The stress was getting to him.

"Alice or Clover could choose," suggested Luna. Harry glanced around as he felt time running out. "Or anyone. When one person chooses, everyone else will be sorted."

**"One minute until chromatic doors close."**

"Alright! I'll pick!" Everyone listened carefully. "Phi and I will go through the yellow door with Tenmyouji. That sounds good?"

"I don't mind," said Harry with a shrug. The other two have their agreement and they separated.

Grumbling about insane rabbits and crazy plans, Harry stepped with Phi, Sigma and Tenmyouji into the yellow chromatic door.


	2. Infirmary

I don't own Harry Potter or Virtue's last reward

Infirmary

The countdown finished and the primary door closed. A light passed over them, checking the brackets and the second door opened. The four walked down the passage and found themselves in an infirmary.

"What? This is the infirmary?" asked Tenmyouji.

"Looks like it," said Phi as she turned thoughtful. Harry looked at the machines closely. They were like nothing he'd ever seen. "That's what it said in the door."

"What the hell?" asked Sigma. Harry frowned and sighed. It looked like he had to put up with a lot of swears in this game. "Why is there an infirmary next to a warehouse?"

"Well, it's probably here for the workers," said Phi. "If they got stuck or hurt."

"Like the nurses room at school," added Harry as he sat in the chair.

"What workers?" asked Sigma in confusion.

"Did you see the size of that place?" asked Tenmyouji. "Little big to be someone's garage."

"Then you say people work here?" asked Sigma in confusion.

"Or are going to work here," added Harry. "It could be new. Or really old and abandoned."

"Sometime was here until recently," observed Phi. "There's no dust."

"Old and newly abandoned then," suggested Harry.

"There's a door in the back," said Sigma as he looked at it.

"You're really slow," muttered Harry. "But you are an old guy..."

"What did you say?"

"Nothing." A presence focused on him and Harry had the sneaking suspicion it was Zero.

"Think it will open?" asked Phi.

"Probably not," said Harry with a glance around before noticing a familiar box. "There's a safe. I bet there's a key in it."

"And that thing next to it says 'lock'," added Tenmyouji. Sigma tried to open it but nothing happened.

"Let's have a look around," suggested Phi.

"Maybe there's one of those card keys around," added Tenmyouji.

"Then let's get started," declared Sigma.

Harry lowered himself under the beds.

"There's nothing under there Harry."

"Doesn't hurt to have a look."

"What this big thing?" asked Sigma as Harry stood back up and grabbed a metal stake.

"Looks like some medical equipment," said Tenmyouji.

"I don't think it's on," said Harry as he touched it. "But there is a button."

"I was going to say that," grumbles Tenmyouji.

Harry pushed the button as the others argued about it. The screen glowed white before picking up a scanner.

"Do you think we're supposed to scan something?"

"Try the hole in the sheet," suggested Tenmyouji. Harry did that but got nowhere with the puzzle.

"Looks like we're missing something." He put the scanner back in its holder and picked up a metal thing on the desk.

"Is this a laser?" asked Sigma as he picked the device up.

"Looks like a needle to me," said Harry with a shrug.

"An injection gun," corrected Phi.

"Is it worth taking it with us?" asked Sigma.

"I think it belongs here," said Harry as Sigma put it back and picked up a key. He grabbed the scalpel before grabbing some wading up powder or what looked like it. The adults discussed using the medicine before deciding against it.

Harry placed the key in a keyhole and unlocked it before removing a sewn in sheet. He placed the offer into a bowl and used the empty jar to pour water into it. Sigma tried to put the sheet on the bed but Phi stopped him. Harry took the sheet back, washed it and passed it back.

"What? I know how to wash. I have to do it for my family," Harry said to their odd looks.

"How old are you?" asked Phi.

"Eleven, why?"

"You're awfully big for an eleven test old," said Tenmyouji. Harry placed the key in the second key hole while puzzling over what Tenmyouji had said as Sigma solved the puzzle on the bed. He played the block puzzle and looked at the number of blocks before selecting the right things on the desk beside him and collected the pad then placed it on the bed. The screen showed another password when Harry solved the puzzle.

"That was in the AB room," said Harry with a frown as he looked at the password. "But it was different."

"Same here," agreed Tenmyouji. Shrugging, Harry placed the parts into the safe and pulled the files out.

"A map?" asked Sigma in surprise.

"Looks like the facility, " said Harry. _How did I know that?_

"Floor a... let's put this aside for now. Why don't we get the rest of the stuff?" asked Phi.

"There's two cards," said Sigma as he looked at it. Frowning, Harry closed his eyes then flinched as he bracket grew warm. A picture of a Sun rushed over it before fading. _What was that?_

"These must open the Ambidex rooms. They've got Ambidex room right there," noted Tenmyouji.

"Yeah, you're probably right," mused Phi as she looked lost in thought.

"Then we can use these to open the AB rooms," said Sigma. "But how do we get back to the warehouse? That's where the AB runs are."

"There has to be a way," said Harry firmly. "Otherwise, what's the point?"

"We could go back the way we came but the door is locked," continued Sigma.

"I think the answers are here," said Phi as she pulled out a piece of paper.

"Hare are a few more rules for you," read out Sigma. "Once you've opened a door, you can hop through it as much as you like. The chromatic doors are like that to. Once you open them, even I carrot keep you from going in and out of them. Any colour of bracelet and add many little as you like. But, you have to escape before you can take advantage of this rule. It won't let you go back until you've skidded the puzzle."

"Interesting," muttered Tenmyouji. "It's saying that we'll be able to get back to the warehouse."

"Indeed," said Harry.

"There's something whose here," said Sigma as he pulled out another piece of paper.

"It looks like part of a newspaper," said Tenmyouji.

"Why is there a newspaper here?" wondered Sigma. "Radical-6 infection spreads. Cute continues to elude authorities. The Radical-6 virus continues to spread across the globe like wildfire. The WHO had confirmed that the death toll is estimated to have passed 100000 victims. Immediate quarantine of any infective patients is strongly advised. What the hell?! What's Radical-6?"

"I wish I knew," muttered Harry before grabbing his head as reality exploded.

_"It's nearly time." Harry stared at the wall of the infirmary._

_"It is." His head turned as he looked at the old women who injected him with something. "I hope this idea of yours works Harry. The copying of your memories. You're important to stop the outbreak of Radical-6. You know you have to get back to 1991 and wait for..."_

_"It works. I know, I've already experienced it. And don't say too much. You know I'll remember this first."_

_"Ok, it's done. I suggest you get down to the AB Room."_

_Harry nodded sharply before walking down the passage and ending the AN Room he'd worked up in before sitting down. Out of the blue, a white mist came into the room and Harry panicked._

_The scene changed._

_"I feel kinda sad for all the people."_

_"We're writing for that Harry. To help them."_

_Harry turned to a man. He looked kinda familiar._

_"But if we fail..."_

_"You know we can travel across alternate realities. We just have to find the right one."_

Everything faded into black and Harry realised that he was staring at his eyelids. Groaning, he forced them open.

_What was that? Wait, the rabbit said that my memories would be unlocked. Was that what he meant?_

"Harry. What was that?" agreed Phi with some concern in her voice.

"I don't know. It came out of the blue. That's never happened to me before," Harry rubbed his head as he dry up on the bed. "How long was I out?"

"A couple of minutes. Sigma unlocked the door and we're waiting for you."

Harry nodded and swung his legs off the table.

"Looks like the invalid is up and about," said Tenmyouji.

_Alternate realities? What was that?_

The four walked out the exit and followed the path.

"Another elevator, huh?" asked Sigma.

"A real one this time," added Harry.

"Think it actually works?" asked Tenmyouji.

"Dunno. There's only one way to find out." Sigma reached out

"Hey. Someone's coming."

The four turned to look at the passage. The other six ran out.

"What's going on here?" Asked Sigma.

"We bubbled into them a little while ago," explain Clover.

"Wood thought that we'd bump into you too," added Alice.

"I see." Harry closed his eyes. "All the rooms come out here. Makes a certain amount of sense."

"Let me see the map." Phi took It from Sigma

"That map was like the one we found in the crew quarters," said K.

"Crew quarters?" asked Sigma in confusion.

"The workers had to sleep somewhere," says Harry with a shrug.

"We also found a map," added Quark. "In the lounge."

"There's a lounge?" asked Sigma in surprise.

Harry's head exploded again.

_There was four people in what looked to be the lounge. Harry couldn't see the people faces. One was angry about something._

_"Kyle, we don't have a choice. Me and your dad have lived through this. It happens."_

_"It's wrong."_

"_I know Kyle. I don't like it either."_

Moaning, Harry struggled against the arena holding him. He looked up to see Phi. She'd caught him.

"This happened before?" K was speaking.

"Yeah, in the infirmary," sigma replied.

"Looks like we have a retard the group," said Dio.

"Not a retard unlike some," rasped Harry.

"So sleeping beauty awakes."

"Sure, he just likes to be the centre of attention," said Tenmyouji.

"Are you sure you're fine?" asked Phi.

"Sure. Why are you so concerned? It's not like you."

Sigma pressed the elevator button and they went down a level.

"What the..."muttered Dio. "This is like the other floor."

"These doors have colours on too," added Luna. "Green, blue and red."

"Are these Chromatic doors?" asked Quark. "Look. There's a box here to. Looks like the one we saw earlier."

Sigma tried to force the door but it stayed shut.

"Just like the other ones," netted Tenmyouji. "No good forcing our open."

"Is there something wrong Alice?" asked Clover. "You've been staring at your bracelet."

"I'm fine but it looks like my guess was right. The numbers have changed."

"The time left," muttered Harry as signs came to the same conclusion. Everyone looked at the time. "Two hours. Six minutes."

"Oh, for fuck's sake," swore Dio. "You saying we have to sit around for another two hours?"

"We don't have much of a choice," said Harry with a shrug.

_Hang on, am I sealing myself off? But then, anyone could be Zero..._

"Sigma, where's that note you found?" asked Tenmyouji.

"Did it say something like supplementary rules?" asked K. "if it does, we have one too."

"Yeah, we have one," Added Dio.

"If what it says is true, we can get back into the warehouse," said Sigma.

"I think Zero says we have to," said Phi. "Rather than can."

"Well, we do have to get back to the AB rooms," pointed out Harry.

"Otherwise, what's the point of the key card?" asked Phi. "But we only find two. That's not enough. Harry doesn't have one."

"I didn't mention this earlier but when we opened the safe, my bracelet showed a Sun," said Harry with a thoughtful expression. "It could mean that I can open an AB room."

"Just like before," whispered Clover.

"Like before?" asked a puzzled Harry. "You've seen something like this before?"

Clover didn't answer.

"You mean this?" asked K as he pulled out a key card.

"We found some to," added Quark.

"That makes six plusHarry's bracelet, there's enough for each AB room," muttered sigma.

"Let's get back to the AB room them," suggested Luna.

"So when Zero says jump, we say 'how high?' then?" asked Dio.

"I don't like this anymore than you do," pointed out Harry. "But I don't want to die just yet."

"And you could stay here," added Tenmyouji. "A stupid, angry mutt watching the door sounds right."

"Asshole. Better hope I don't have rabies old man."

"You're an asshole," retorted Harry.

"What's it going to be?" asked Alice. "Are you going back or staying here?"

"We have to go back," said Harry. "We do need to get out of here and the only way is to use the AB rooms."

"All right, fine," moaned Dio.

They all went up to the floor above and into the infirmary.

"So this is the infirmary," muttered K. "we were able to walk into it, just like the note said."

"I had a feeling that it would work," said Harry with a small smile.

"That means you can visit the lounge too," added Quark. "You'd like it grandpa. There's lots of alcohol. Even some of your favourite."

"That sounds great," said Tenmyouji. "Maybe I'll have a drink later."

"The hell man? How are you calm?" asked Dio in disbelief.

_He's lived through this before._

"Grandpa?" Harry looked between the two. "Are you two related? And what is up with your hat as well Quark?"

"It stores snacks. They got taken away though." The boy looked down as Harry listened to a conversation.

"Do you think there's a connection?" Clover.

"I can't be sure yet but there's no way this is just coincidence." Alice.

"Yeah. There's even a Zero…"

"Whatever's going on, we have to contact headquarters and fast."

"Yeah, I agree. They've probably figured that we've gone by now."

"Yeah…"

"Do you think they'll find us?"

"Let's hope so."

_Those two are connected. Oh no. here I go again._

The now familiar mental explosion hit him.

"_It's a real pity that we have to keep them unconscious and frozen."_

"_You know why Harry. We can't have their bosses finding us. It's too important."_

"Again. What's going on with him? This only started after we unlocked the safe." Sigma.

"Well, he's recovered now. I don't think he knows why he's doing this," said Tenmyouji. "But I bet he's looking for attention."

"I'm not. Trust me, I'd much rather be awake."

They walked into the warehouse.

"You're finally done?" asked Zero. "You took so long I hopped off for a little nap."

"You're a computer program. You don't need to sleep," pointed out Harry.

"And you've been dropping off for the last ten minutes. Now, let's get back to what we were saying earlier. How do you get more BP?"

"We go into the AB rooms, right?" asked Sigma as he pulled out the cards. "We've got some cards. K and Quark have two so we have six. That leaves one missing."

"That's easy. When you opened the safe, I sent a signal to Hattie's bracelet to allow him to open it."

"Not fair," moaned Harry. "The doors are unlocked by a card reader. I don't have a card."

"Look again Hattie. Do you notice something different?"

The group turned.

"Wait, the one in the middle. It has a round thingy instead," said Sigma.

"All you have to do Hattie is press your hand to it and it will open!" Zero said enthusiastically.

"But who goes into what room?" asked Luna.

"That doesn't matter. Anybunny can go into any room. Well, Hattie doesn't have a choice."

"But there are only seven rooms," pointed out Alice.

"Are you stupid? Pairs share a destiny. They go into the same room." Harry shook his head.

"That's it!" cheered Zero.

"So what do we do when we get into a room?" asked Quark with his hands on his head.

"Play a game. Just like it says on the door. You play the Ambidex game," explained Zero.

"Wait. What is Ambidex supposed to mean?" asked Tenmyouji.

"Well, I guess it has something to do with ambidextrous which is generally used to mean two choice. An ambidextrous person has no dominant had so they can choose which one to use. I take it we have to make a choice between two options," explained Harry.

"A game of betrayal," said K. "Ambidextrous can be used to mean two faced after all."

"I guess you could put it that way," said Zero thoughtfully.

"Then what is the Nonary game?" asked Quark.

"That refers to the whole thing. It the game where you try to open the number nine door and escape. The Ambidex game is just a minigame. Make sense?"

"It does," said Harry.

"This shit is confusing," complained Dio.

"Your attitude needs improving."

"Is that you're just a few carrots short of a bushel?" asked Zero. "What do you think B.O?"

"You arrogant little bastard…"

Zero laughed. "That's just how I am so you'd better get used to it. Now, could you all move to the AB rooms then? I'll give you more specifics once you're inside. I think it's going to be easier that way."

Once everyone had a card, they walked over to the AB Rooms. Harry shrugged and placed his hand on the scanner. There was a low hum and the door opened.

"I'm already going to become distrustful. I know it."

**A Ambidex gate has been opened. Forty five minutes remain until Ambidex game polling closes.**

"This has a time limit too?" muttered Harry as he stepped just as he heard a ruckus. He jumped back out.

"There's a lady over here! She's unconscious!"

Harry ran into the room that the shout had come from to find Phi and Sigma rolling the mentioned lady gently over. His heart stopped. That lady was the one he'd seen.

"Blood." Harry stared at the lady as another episode hit him. "She's..."

"_You're going to sacrifice yourself?"_

"_It's necessary Harry. I know you dislike the idea of killing."_

"_But why?"_

"_You'll find out in time. There is one timeline where I don't die."_

Everything returned to normal.

_Why is this happening to me? It sounds like I agreed to become a participant but I don't remember any of that."_

"What the hell is happening here?!" Dio stopped as soon as he saw the body. Harry instantly knew he had something to do with it. Just a feeling. His body language was all wrong.

"Is she?" asked Quark but Harry covered his eyes with his hands.

"You don't want to see this Quark. Trust me."

He pulled Quark out of the room.

"Then… she's…?" K couldn't get the question out.

"Yeah. She's not breathing and there's no pulse. Her body's already cold do I guess she was… I'm guessing she was murdered a while ago. Harry collapsed as soon as he saw her."

Phi tugged him away where no one could hear them.

"What is wrong with you?"

"What are you talking about Phi?"

"You know what I'm talking about. The blackouts you keep having." Her expression turned thoughtful. "What year is it?"

"What kind of question is that? It's 1991, last I checked."

"That's not possible. Harry, if you're telling the truth, you've missed thirty seven years. It's 2028."

"Then, how? Some kind of time travel?"

"And as soon as I saw you, I knew that you were important to this somehow." Phi's expression turned confused. "Did you know that person?"

"I don't know. She seemed familiar from somewhere but I don't know where." It was a half-truth. Harry had seen her in two of his blackouts so she had to be important.

"It looked like she was stabbed," said Phi as she walked back to the group. "I don't see a weapon around here though."

"I don't think the murderer would have hidden it with the body," said Harry as he joined her.

"What were you talking about?" asked Sigma curiously.

"Nothing important."

"The murder weapon could be a part of them," said Phi thoughtfully as she looked at K. "Well, if someone was strong enough and they had metal hands, they'd possibly be able to stab someone in the heart."

"I don't think so Phi. Judging by the looks of the wound, the weapon was a knife." Everyone stared at Harry. "My aunt watched a lot of detective programs to insult the detective, I learnt a bit off them."

"Let's take her to the infirmary," said Phi. "She may be old but she's still a woman. If we're going to do an autopsy, she should have some privacy. Come one boys, let's go."

Dio, Sigma and K gingerly carried her to the infirmary. Tenmyouji just stared into space.

"That woman. Did you know her?" asked Harry as he stood next to him.

"She reminds me of someone. And it's none of your business."

They followed slowly.

"She looks so peaceful. Like she's going to war up any moment now," said Sigma.

"Maybe she didn't suffer much when she died," suggested Phi.

"Let's hope so."

Closing his eyes, Harry considered who had killed her. It had to be before the game started or while they were in the chromatic doors. That meant that either someone had killed her or there was an eleventh person running around.

"Anyway, I feel a little bad about this but we're going to need to examine her," said Phi.

"You mean an autopsy or something?" asked Dio. Harry stared at the man in the glaringly colourful clothes. Was he stupid?

"I'm just having a look at the wound," explained Phi. "If we had a coroner, it would be different but…"

"Um…" Luna looked nervous.

"What?"

"I have a medical license."

"You're a nurse?" asked Quark in surprise.

"No…"

"You're a doctor?"

"Well, I'm not exactly a coroner…"

"Well, I guess you can't really judge a book by its cover," said Alice. "Maybe you can check Harry over too. Maybe there's some brain damage."

"Sorry…"

"You don't need to apologise," said Alice with an eye roll.

"Are you going to perform an autopsy?" asked Clover curiously.

"Um, I won't really be doing it but I think that machine is a medical scanner. It called an ADAM. It uses nuclear magnetic resonance imaging to examine and diagnose people."

"So you can use it to perform some kind of autopsy?" asked Sigma.

"Yes. I think I can manage that. I'll also check Harry if he's agreeable."

Luna scanned the body before turning back to the terminal. The display filled with text.

Sex: Female

Estimated age: 65-75 years

Diagnosis: deceased

Cause of death: exsanguination

Estimate time of death: three to four hours

Damage trajectory: weapon entered through 4th intercostal, piercing heart

Wound characteristics:

Wound margin – clean, continuous

Wound angles – 1 sharp, 1 blunt

Wound cavity – 150 mm

Wound length – 30 mm

Wound width – 3 mm

Conclusion: based on the characteristics, there is a 95% chance that the wound was caused by a sharp, single bladed instrument.

"So someone stabbed her," said Harry as he finished reading.

"Most likely," agreed Luna.

"In the heart?" asked Alice.

"Yes."

"Well, I guess that clears me of suspicion," said K.

"Unless you have a knife hidden somewhere," said Harry. "It could be an eleventh person."

"Not really. The old lady was found in the end room where you and Clover were," explained Phi. "Only one was conscious."

"Phi, stop joking around," said K desperately. "I assure you, there was no one in that room besides Clover when I woke up."

"Anyway, someone could be framing them," said Harry.

"The door was locked, right?" asked Quark.

"True, but remember what the rabbit said? He controls all the doors. He could have opened it for them." commented Harry.

"And there was a hatch on the ceiling, right?" asked K.

"Yes, there was," said Luna. "But Zero said he'd locked all the hatches."

"You fucking bastard! Why did you kill her?! I knew it! You're the real Zero!" yelled Dio.

"But he could have unlocked them again," suggested Harry. "Or lied. And Dio, before you blame someone, please make sure you have proof."

"And if I was Zero, why would I do something that would cast suspicion on me?" asked K.

"Because you'd figured we'd think that and you did it to throw us off," suggested Dio after a pause.

"That's not a logical argument," said K calmly. "Still, you have half a point. Your argument doesn't confirm my guilt but it does tell us where we should be looking. The real Zero. The person that brought us here could have murdered her and be the eleventh person like Harry said. It would also explain how the body moved."

"That makes sense," said Clover. "If Zero was the murderer, they could open anything they'd like."

"And if the murderer wasn't Zero, why did the AI stay quiet?" asked K. "He said his job was to make the job run smoothly."

"Zero could have told him to stay quiet," offered Harry. "Which means that the murder was part of the game…"

Looks of shock covered everyone's faces.

"If Zero…. Let's call him Zero Sr, did order Zero Jr, the AI, to keep quiet, that means that the murderer was expected," commented K. "If Zero Jr did tell us, it probably compromise Zero Sr identity. Like the Harry said, the murder could have been expected. Zero Sr murdered her."

"But we can't rule out us," said Harry with a frown.

"Killing someone is just a part of the game to him?" asked Sigma.

"Well, there's no way to be sure but I assume so," said K.

**Ten minutes remain until Ambidex polling closes. All players please enter your votes. If no vote is recorded before the deadline has passed, any non-voting parties automatically ally.**

"What was that?" asked Sigma.

"Dunno," said Clover.

"Well, one thing's for sure," said Alice. "If we don't go vote, something bad is going to happen."

"You see? Zero Jr makes sure the game continues even though someone has died. All of this is part of a plan," said K.

"And don't forget Zero Sr's assistant," added Harry. "He or she could have a role."

"Hmm…" Phi stared at Harry. "Let's get back to the warehouse. If we entered the AB rooms, maybe we'll see Zero Jr. after all, he told us he'd give us specifics once we'd gone in."

They ran back to the AB rooms and entered them. Approaching the screen, Harry touched start. The doors closed.

"Well, I'm not getting out of here."

"Hooray! Everybunny's finally here!" Zero appeared on the panel by the doors. "I've been waiting."

"Just get on with it Zero," said Harry grumpily. "I don't know who to trust and you're not helping."

"Will all of you stop bombarding me with questions?" asked Zero Jr.

"What?" Harry stared at the screen in bewilderment.

"Everyone is asking me questions except you Hattie! I guess you can't hear them because the rooms are soundproof but… B.O. is especially loud. For real B.O. I need you to shut up. There isn't much time. I've got to hurry and explain all of this before I'm done."

Harry sweat dropped.

"So no more questions! No answers for anybunny. You'll have to wait. Now, let's get this party started. Let me tell you about the AB game. Since it's a game, you'll have a opponent."

Harry cursed.

"But this isn't a battle royale where you fight everybunny. Each round will be a one on one battle. Mano a mano. Or mano a womano. Well, there are two people in a pair. So it will be a two on one battle. Or two on one on one if Hattie's with you. Now you're wondering who your opponent is. You'll be competing with whoever you went through the chromatic doors with. For example, Phido and Siggy paired up with Tenymouldy and Hattie to go through the yellow door. That means that Phido and Siggy will be fighting Hattie and Tenmyouldy. It also means that Hattie will be fight against both Tenmyouldy and Phido and Siggy. In that game, the votes are compared."

"Oh boy," muttered Harry. "Just my luck."

"And you can work out what your enemies are. Well, I guess they're not your enemies if you choose ally. In that case, they're your friend. What don't get it?"

Harry shook his head.

"Just listen while Zero the third explains it! First, I want to everybunny to focus on the screen on te device at the back of the room. You should see A: Ally and B: Betray. Do you? All you have to do is pick! Just pick one of these easy hoptions!"

"Easy? This isn't easy! This is the fucking prisoner's dilemma!" Harry bashed his head against the wall. He was so going to have to clean his mouth out after this.

"Your BP will go up or down after this," continued Zero Jr. "It's a little complicated and some of you are little slow so I made this handy chart."

The screen changed to show the chart. Harry read it.

"The + and – are from your point of view."

_So if I choose ally, I can gain two points if the others choose Ally or lose two if one of the others choose betray. If I choose betray, I can gain three points if the others choose ally or gain nothing if the others choose betray. How do I know if I can trust them?_

Zero Jr explained just that with some rather funny names.

"You're probably wondering about the pairs. Well, let me explain. Each pair shares a destiny. That applies here too. You only get one vote. You get to choose one. You don't split your points though. You both gain or lose the same amount of points. What you see on the chart is what you get. That does it for the basic rules. There's more but that would have to wait. It's almost time."

"Wait!" Harry reached for the screen.

"No. I won't wait and I can't wait. Didn't you hear me? It's time."

**One minute until voting closes.**

"What do I do? What do I do?" Panicking seemed the right option. He couldn't pick betray and he couldn't pick ally.

_Hang oh. Didn't that man say that I could jump through timelines? How do I do it?"_

Blinking, Harry stared at the wall as it shows some kind of results. He chose betray as did Phi and Sigma but Tenmyouji chose ally. The next second, he was back at the terminal.

"Woah that was weird. Does that mean that was the result of me choosing betray?"

Frowning, Harry chose betray. It was like he had to go down this path. Plus he was angry about Tenmyouji's comments."

**Round one of the Ambidex game has been completed. Results will be displayed in the warehouse. Thank you for your participation. Ambidex gates now opening.**

Everyone ran towards the projector. Tenmyouji was looking at the floor as he slowly walked over. Harry felt a twinge off regret but visited it down.

"Good. Looks like your all here. Let's get ready to rock. Ambidex game! Round one! The results! If everybunny could direct their eyes to the monitor... "

K and Clover chose betray while Luna chose ally. Dio and Quark also chose betray while Alice chose ally. The results for sigma, Phi, himself and Tenmyouji he already knew. Harry closed his eyes.

"Here are the results! Now, lettuce check the numbers on our bracelets."

The pair's and Harry had six points while the others had one.

"I got betrayed? Well, I can understand Harry I guess. I did say and rather nasty things."

"He chose," said Phi as she pointed at Sigma.

"He chose betray last time."

"Last time?" asked Tenmyouji. "You're the ones who chose betray. I should ask you why."

"I told him you might chose betray," explained phi.

"Phi, you..." Sigma looked confused.

"I can't believe you. I'd never choose betray. I trusted you two. Harry, well, I can understand his reasons."

"For what's worth, I'm sorry," said Harry with a frown.

Phi and Sigma started to argue.

"Whatever. I'm not going to trust you ever again. This isn't over. Just you see."

He stormed off. Phi also slipped away. Everyone else argued.

"Zero, when does the next round start?" asked Alice.

"What makes you think we'll be having another round?" asked the rabbit.

"You said round one. That means there's going to be a round two."

"Besides, you says the point was to get to nine BP. That's impossible without another round," agreed K.

"Yeah, I guess you have a point. You're right."

"When?" asked Clover.

"I don't know."

"Why not?"

"The voting hoppens when an AB gate opens."

"They're already open," said Luna as they looked at the rooms.

"Right you are! So let me close them."

The gates closed with a screech.

**The Ambidex gates have closed. Round two well be the moon round. Mon versa will be required.**

"Cuts that mean we can't use these cards anymore?" asked Sigma.

"Yes indeed. Now you have to find the cards with moons on."

"So how many times do we have to pay?" agreed Dio.

"Dunno. As many as it takes."

"So it's over when someone gets nine BP?" asked Tenmyouji.

"No. As long as the number nine door isn't opened, the game goes on. Of course you could get sick below 9 BP."

"Can I ask you something?" asked Sigma.

"Can you?"

"There's rules about who can do into the secondary doors, right? Like you have to have three people where Harry is the only exception."

"Yeah. So?"

"What about the number nine door? Are the rules the same?"

"Nope. There aren't any rules about who can go through that could be all nine of you. There is one thing. All the stuff about having three people do through the chromatic doors... It's not 100% true."

"What do you mean?" asked Sigma in confusion.

"I get it. The doors scam the bracelets. It would open if it detects three. If we could fool the scanners, more people could get in," explained Harry.

"Do they even come off?" asked Sigma.

"They do indeed," agreed Zero.

"Then how?" asked Quark.

"There's two ways. The first is to escape. The second I think you already know."

Everyone groaned. Dio complained.

"Do you want to get rid of the bracelet?"

"Well, duh." Talked Dio.

"You die. Your heart sends out a series of electrical impulses. You know what an electrocardiogram is right? It's the thing that beeps when someone is dying on a TV show. Anyway, the point is that you can detect that electricity. Your bracelets pick up on that. So when the signal goes away, the bracelet comes off. You might be seeing some of that during the next round."

"The next round?" asked Tenmyouji.

"Yep. Some of you could die. If I had to guess, it would be Tenmyoldy or Alas or Moony. Or maybe everyone."

"What?"

"Why?" asked Luna.

"Why am I going to die?" asked Alice.

"I guess I can tell you why. Anyone who's BP drops to zero gets penalised. I'm pretty sure I already told you what the penalty is.

"You mean that the needles will activate and we'll die?" asked Sigma. Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Correct! Full marks!"

"I see..." muttered Tenmyouji. "Alice, Luna and I have one BP. that means we'll have less than zero if we lost two points."

"What... What the hell! This is important stuff! Why didn't you tell us earlier?!" yelled Alice.

"Sorry."

"Sorry is not going to cut it! I thought you were supposed to tell us the rules, not hide them."

"Well..."

"Is there anything else you've conveniently left out? It's not fair to make people play a game without finding the rules."

"I think it's fair. It's not like anyone what know."

Everyone thought over the new information.

"Oh, the next set of chromatic doors are downstairs," said Zero. "You saw them. There should have been three. Red, blue and green. That means you need magenta, cyan and yellow to get through. But you've already got those brackets. Have a look"

Harry stared at the bracelet. A black solo. The only difference was the six.

"Yeah, the colours changed. Mine's magenta now," said Sigma.

"So's mine," added Clover.

"Me to," said Quark. "Hey, wait. It's wasn't just the colour that changed. I'm a solo now."

"Looks like me and Clover are still pairs though," commented Sigma.

Alice was a yellow pair. So was K. Dio was the yellow solo. Tenmyouji was the cyan solo. Phi and Luna were the cyan pair.

"When did they change?" ask Quark.

"When the AB gates closed. Your colours get changed automatically. The pair and solo combinations get changed too. It's all random."

"Have on, I didn't change at all," interrupted Harry. "Why?"

"Uh, because you and the black solo are stuck together. You're forever fated to be alone. Now, I must bid you adieu. Sadly, we may never meet again."

"What?" asked Clover in surprise.

"Well, there's nothing for me to facilitate any more. I mean, you guys are good, right? I'll never see you again." Zero started to sniff before starting to cry before stopping. "Did you really think I was going to cry? Suckers! As if I would cry over you dummies."

"What the..." muttered Sigma. "You fucking dick!"

Zero giggled. "You mad? Anyway, good luck. I may be gone but I'm always watching. Maybe I'll see you again one day. Have a nice tragedy."

The projector turned off. Harry frowned at the rabbit's not so subtle warning.

"That little piece of shit," swore Dio. "If I could get my hands on that little fucker, I'd squeeze him until he popped!"

"No, that's just his personality," corrected Harry.

"That sounds gross," comments Sigma. "I don't really want to think about that."

"What now?" asked Quark. "We've still got time until the chromatic doors open."

"Yeah, forty two minutes," said Sigma as he checked the time.

"We should go see if we can find any other exits," said Alice. "Maybe there's a vent or a disposal chute or something. If there's a chance that zero missed something."

"I concur," said K. "There's no point in standing around. We lose nothing but looking and I'd we find nothing, we can return and go through the chromatic doors."

"Leeds split up. Five minutes should give us a good half hour or sublet's meet in from of the chronic doors five minutes before they open. Any disagreements?" asked Phi.

There were none. Harry sat against the wall.

_Why it's this happening to me? I'm famous, sure but if phi is right, that was thirty seven years ago. How did I ever to here._

_He was walking home from school. Someone snuck up behind him and punched him. Dudley. If course. Panic courses through him as Dudley lifted a metal bar. The next thing get knew, three was a white smoke and he'd worked up in the AB room._

Shaking his head, Harry ran his hand along the wall before part of it split apart. Squinting, Harry started at the hat. He pulled it out and put it on. It felt like it belonged.

"Waking into the crew run, Harry arrived at the same time as Sigma asked a question.

"What's headquarters speed to mean?"

"What?" Alice.

"I heard you in the infirmary. You said something about getting in touch with headquarters." So Sigma had heard the conversation too.

"What should we do?" Clover. There was a sigh.

"Clover and I are co-workers." There was a ring of truth in what she's said.

"Oh. Where do you work?"

"We can't tell you that."

"Why not?" asked Sigma. "Is it something to do with the government?"

"You can tell yourself that."

"Does it save something to do with Zero?"

"Why would you say that?" asked Clover.

"You seem to know more than you're letting on. The way you were speaking. 'There's even a Zero.' Sound like you've heard of Zero before. You've both heard of him."

"This isn't the first nonary game, is it?" asked Harry as he made his presence known. "There has been other ones. The person setting them was also called Zero."

"How did you know?" asked Clover in surprise.

"I also overheard you. What you said suggests that there had been more than one nonary game and more than one Zero."

"That's right. About a year ago, nine people were kidnapped and forced to pay a game. The rules were different but it was called the nonary game too. I guess only seven were kidnapped. I mean, two of them were the ones behind it. Though if I count the other two, then there were nine... anyway, the people behind that game were also called Zero."

"Hold on. Can you give me more details? And how do you even know about this anyway?" asked Sigma.

"Because I was part of it. I was one of the people who got kidnapped.l

Harry raised an eyebrow.

"You mean this is your second nonary game?" asked Sigma in disbelief.

"It's my third. The same thing happened ten years ago.l

"Wait. You have to have something to do with it," said Sigma.

"I guess you could say that." Clover looked thoughtful.

"How could you not? Whoever does these games must want you to play another!"

"I don't think so." Clover frowned.

"Why not?"

"Because the hands were run by different people. The guy behind the first had already been arrested."

"What about the other?" asked Sigma.

"They're still on the run but..."

"It has to be them!"

"I don't think so. They'd already done what they needed to do."

"Unless they had something else that couldn't be accomplished in that game," suggested Harry.

"And no one here has anything to do with it," added Clover. "Except... Harry, could I see your bracelet?"

Harry held out his arm and Clover studied it.

"I'm sure. I've seen you before Harry. In the last nonary game."

Sigma and Alice started at him.

"What are you talking about Clover? This is my first." Harry felt his hands begin to sweat.

"You did say something about us meeting but you not remembering. I guess this is what you meant. But I'm were there. Not as a player but as an observer."

Tenmyouji ran in. He was frantic.

"Luna. Where's Luna? It's Quark. Something bad's happened."

"Calm down. What happened to Quark?" asked Sigma.

"He just collapsed. I have to find Luna. She said she was a doctor."

"She's in the lounge," said Sigma. "Where's Quark?"

"In the infirmary."

They separated. Tenmyouji and Harry ran into the infirmary. Linda and the rest arrived a few seconds later. Picking up the scanner, Luna ran out over took a few minutes. Harry bit his lip

"I know what's wrong with him. I feel terrible saying this but Quark is... Quark has a viral infection.l

"Oh no..." whispered Phi

"Radical-6," added Harry.

"Have you heard of this virus?" asked Sigma.

"Only in that newspaper article," shrugged Harry.

"What? No, that can't be right." Tenmyuoji looked to be in a state of shook. "Quark can't be...there must be seeing we can do! How can we cut him?"

"Well, the ADAM says there is a serum called Axelavir. Is the only way to counteract the virus. If we inject him with some, he should be ok," explained Luna.

"Where is it?!"

"Was there none in the infirmary?" asked K.

"We looked didn't find anything," explained Phi.

"We didn't find anything in the crew quarters either," added Clover.

"No link in the lounge," added Dio

"Oh he's going to...Oh God no." Tenmyouji collapsed to his knees.

"Quark?"

Turning to the machine, everyone looked at Quark.

"Quark! Oh thank God. You're awake!"

"Get away from me!" Quark picked up a scalpel and prepared to stab himself.

"What? Quark, what are you...?"

"Sorry grandpa. I can't. I have to..."

"Have to what? What are you using about?" Demanded Tenmyouji.

"Isn't it obvious? I have to escape."

"But how?"

"Like this."

Quark' s hand moved like lightning. Sigma stopped him.l

"No! Let go! Let go off me!"

"Pretty tough kid," muttered Sigma. "I could use a little help here."

"Stop it! Let go off me you jerks!"

"Tenmyouji! What the hell are you doing? Get over here! Tenmyouji! Can you even hear me?"

"Oh. Right."

"Damn you! Bastards! Why went you let me go! I have to get out of this body! They can't lock away the soul! Once my body's gone, my soul can escape! Please! You have to let me go! Let me go! I'm trapped here! Let me die! I have to die! Kill MEEE! Somebody! Anybody! Kill MEEE!Kill MEEE! Kill MEEE!"

His cries were heart breaking. Harry closed his eyes and wiped the tears away.

"Jesus, this kid has lost it," muttered Sigma. "Someone get that scapel away from him."

Clover grabbed it.

"Good job Clover." Quark didn't notice as he continued to struggle. "What are we going to do? We've got to calm him down."

"Luna! Are there any tranquilizers in here?" asked Phi.

"No. Well, I mean..."

"What?"

"There's soporil β."

"Soporil?" asked Dio.

"That's the anaesthetic," reminded Clover. "The one in our bracelets."

"Good. Perfect," said Phi. "Hit him with that."

"What?" asked Tenmyouji incredulously.

"He'll be fine! It's just an anaesthetic."

"Made up your minds! This boy is sure strong," complained Harry. Luna injected Quark before turning to the screen.

"Everything's normal. He's in a very deep sleep."

"I guess we're good for now," said Sigma in relief.

"How long will be be out?" asked Phi.

"A few hours."

"He was strong for such a little guy," commented Dio.

"I think that might be the virus," said Luna. "It could attack the past of the brain that controls reason. With that down, his body was using everything it had."

"How do you know?" asked Dio.

"Other viruses could do a similar thing," suggested Harry.

"So, when Quark tried to kill himself, was it because of radical-6?" asked Clover.

"I think so."

"So, what kind of virus is Radical-6?" asked Sigma. Everyone looked at the newspaper article.

"Is this a quarantine zone?" asked Clover.

Closing his eyes, Harry felt his head explode again.

_"You know, we die on quite a few of the routes. How do you know that radical-6 won't get to us?"_

_"You're standing right here. That means you survive."_

"Just stay still for a second Harry." Harry squinted at Luna. "You can get up now."

"What was that about?" asked Harry as he stood up. Luna looked at the screen.

"Physically, there's nothing wrong though his bracelet seeks to be injecting something into his body. Whatever is causing his blackouts is mental."

"You're saying that he had something wrong with his brain?" asked Dio. "Was I right when I cared him a retard?"

"We don't have time for this. Look at the time," spoke up Alice. Five minutes.

"We have to get downstairs," said Harry. Tenmyouji picked up Quark as everyone ran through the doors. Phi listed their options.

The magenta pair went with the cyan solo to go through the blue door. The cyan pair went with the yellow solo through the green door. The yellow pair went with the magenta solo through the red door.

The magenta pair went with the yellow solo through the red door. The cyan pair went with the magenta solo through the blue door. The yellow pair went through the green door with the cyan solo.

The magenta pair went through the green door with the magenta solo. The cyans went through the red door and the yellows went through the blue door.

**Three minutes remain until chromatic doors close.**

"How are we going to do this?" asked Sigma.

"I won't go with Sigma. He betrayed me last time." Tenmyouji.

"What about Phi?" asked Sigma.

"You hit the button, right?"

"Yes but..."

"I don't want to go with Dio." Alice. "Same reason. I can't trust that he would betray me again."

"Thanks a lot Quark. You single handedly torpedoed my reputation."

There was more arguing. It was eventually decided to go for the third option. Harry joined Sigma the green door.

"You trust me?"

Harry nodded. Sigma was the only one he could trust.


	3. Treatment Centre

I don't own Harry Potter or virtue's last reward

Treatment Centre

The door shut behind them and they continue on to three separate doors.

"Is this a dead end?" asked Sigma.

"There are three doors here," commented Clover. "But it looks like they're all locked."

"What's this thing? It's got a lever on it." Sigma looked at the device in the middle of the room.

"Can you pull it?" asked Clover.

"My hands are full right now." Sigma looked at the sleeping Quark.

"I'll take Quark then."

"You really don't want to touch that thing, do you?" asked Sigma. Harry reached out and pulled the lever down. The door to the treatment centre opened.

"Nothing to it," said Harry. "Nothing dangerous."

"For now," muttered Clover. "Did you see the plaque on the door?"

"Yeah. Treatment Centre," said Harry with a shrug.

"Do you think it's a medical thing?" asked cover.

"First an infirmary, now this," said sigma. "Why do we keep ending up in this place?"

"Luck?" suggested Harry. Sigma glanced at Quark.

"We may have lucked out."

"What do you mean?" asked Clover.

"If this is where they treat people, maybe there's something for Quark."

"Yeah!"

"Let's have a look around then," said Harry with a smile. "Nothing like the present."

The room was rather clown with an antiseptic smell to it.

"What are these?" asked signs as he started at the three machines in a locked post of the room.

"It says treatment pots on the side," said Clover as she pointed at the text.

"So they treat people," sais Sigma.

"Maybe they can treat Quark," said Harry. They tested the door but it was locked. "Great. Maybe we should have a look around."

Clover bounced off to examine the room. Sigma placed Quark on the couch next to the door.

"Hang on little guy. We'll get you fixed."

Harry closed his eyes. The room seemed very familiar.

"Back again Harry?"

Harry turned to see the old woman "I feel sorry for them. Forced to miss decades just for us to the save the world." He shook his head and turned a button causing a screen to light up. He started at the board before sighing.

"Nice lion." Clover and Sigma were looking at something on the wall.

"It's a pretty realistic posting." Harry glanced at the point before words shot through his mind.

_Memento mori, if the nineth lion the the sun._

"I think he's trying to cough something up. Like a hairball," said Clover.

"More like it ate something," corrected Sigma.

"Like what? A hairball."

"There's a hole."

Harry looked at the jellyfish before looking for a key.

"Weird clock. No hands. And why is there a no. 4 there?" Harry scratched his head. "And a light. And card readers. Why is there a card reader?"

He returned to the door and played the guessing game on it. The door opened and they inspected the treatment pod. Sigma opened one up.

"What's that on the lid? 11:01."

Stopping at the second pod, Harry opened it up and read the clock on the lid as he picked up the key. 6:20.

Cover opened the last one and picked up a key. "I think this opens something."

"That's what keys normally do Clover." Harry looked at the drawing of the clock. 7:15.

"Are you sure about that?" asked Sigma as Clover read it out.

"Yeah."

Harry left the room as the two adults looked the display and unlocked the clock. He picked up the chip before playing with the jellyfish in the tank to get a tile. It was painful as the water was boiling.

"Ouch." He pulled out the tile from the jellyfish and placed it in the painting. The painting descended and a laser shot out. He returned to Sigma and Clover then placed the chip in the slot that Clover pointed out. They read the display.

"What? Do we need to run tests on plants?" asked Sigma.

"Well, it looks like that," said Harry with a shrug. He ran out and grabbed the two plants in the room before returning. "Here we are. Two plants."

They placed the parts in the treatment pod and grabbed the chips once the tests had been run. Harry shivered as he looked at the frozen trains of one. Sigma placed Quark in.

"You'd never think he was sick."

"Yeah. It's a pity," says Harry. "No one that she should try to commit suicide."

Cover cursed the lid. The pod began treatment. The three checked the screen.

"Everything normal," said Sigma.

"No. It's not working. Read the bottom." Harry closed his eyes. "This pod can't treat radical-6. Only treat the symptoms."

"Shall we put him into Cold Sleep?" asked Clover as the option came up.

"I don't think freezing him is a good idea clover," says Harry. "And I think Tenmyouji should be the one to make that decision."

They stared at the pod for a few seconds then Harry left. He placed the cards in the couch and fired with the hands. He pulled out the table and the system of the board game and ended the times. He walked over to the safe with the password and cover and signs joined him.

"That looks dangerous," said Clover as they looked at the injection him.

"It isn't. Just an injection gun," said Harry as he pulled it out.

"It depends on what is in the vial," said Clover as she looked at it.

"The label says neostigmine," says Sigma.

"What did you just say?" asked Clover in surprise.

"Neostigmine. Did that mean something?"

"Let me see it!" Cover spectres the gun from him.

"I think this ought to be gentle," says Harry.

"I've heard that before... I can't remember. I'll have onto this."

"Well, we've got another map," says Harry as he took it out of the safe. "I think it's this floor."

"And here are cards." Cover pulled it out. "They've got moons on them."

The same symbol flashed across Harry's bracelet. Sigma pulled out the last part.

"Here are some more rules for you," he read. "Not voting is not a hoption. If both parties refuse to vote, then everybunny gets penalised. In over words, one person in every colour group had to vote."

"In other ways, one of the four of us had to vote," summarised cover.

"Abs I bet that all of us have to vote. I didn't think that it works with just my bracelet," says Harry as he pointed at it. "That's how it's been so far."

"There's no reason not to choose ally anyway," added Sigma. Harry picked up the key and unlocked the door.

**An Ambidex gate had been opened. Forty five minutes remain until polling closes.**

"What idiot has opened the gate?" asked Harry in disbelief.

"The pod changed!" The three shot over to it and read the display.

Currently treating one patient.

[-07:48] one subject released

[-08:06] one subject restored.

[-08:16] cold sleep disengaged beginning restoration.

All older records have been deleted.

The other pods were the same.

"What is this?" agreed sigma.

"I think if this is right, then eight hours ago, someone woke up," said Clover. "Well three. One for each pod."

_"Tell me, why aren't we crying any black chromatic doors?"_

_"Because you remember there not being any."_

Harry shook his head. Not again.

"That's before we all woke up," said Sigma. "It hasn't been eight hours yet."

"I think three of us were in there," said Harry as he stared at it. "I don't know who though. And maybe someone wanted us to see the records but not what the time is, that's why the timing's so weird. Plus the fact that they displayed them only after we opened the door."

"Maybe going back is a good idea. Someone else could think of something."

The three hired back to the warehouse.

"Wait, this is different,"' said Harry as they looked around. "I think we're directly underneath the warehouse we want to be in."

Clover pulled out the map. "I thought so. You're right Harry."

"And there are more chromatic doors," said Harry as he stared at them. "White this time. I haven't seen any black though."

"We might not have to come back here," said Clover. "We all have six BP now. If we choose betray, we could escape."

"No way. I may not know who Zero and his assistant are but I'm not going to risk a little kid to escape." Harry shook his head before looking at the wall. "I meet not trust anyone apart from Sigma here but I won't take advantage of Quark."

_There are those words again. Memento mori, when the nineth lion ate the sun._

"But someone else could get nine BP! That means that there won't be a third round!"

_I wish I knew how to jump ahead into the future. But then, I guess I would have to know where I'm going._

"Not necessarily. As long as the number nine door isn't opened, we'll be fine," pointed out Sigma. "We have to get to the others."

Harry nodded and they walked back to the elevator then to the warehouse.

"Cover! Thank god you're back!" Alice smiled as she saw the four.

"Oh, and no greetings for us then." Harry sighed.

"Are we the last ones?" asked Sigma.

"Yep."

"Where's Quark?" demanded Tenmyouji as he looked furious. Sigma quickly explained what had happened. "So are they really safe?"

"As far as we know they are," said Harry. Tenmyouji quickly went to have a look.

"Who opened the AB gate?" asked signs.

"Was it Dio? He's the only one apart from the two that just left who's not here," asked Harry.

"I am here." Harry slammed his elbow into the man's stomach as he appeared right behind him. "But I did open it. It's not a big deal."

"It is Dio. It is a big deal." Sigma explained what was on the note in the safe. Dio had the decently to look ashamed but there was something fake about it.

"Did you find any Axelavir?" agreed Phi.

"No. It just had those pods. Besides, we would have treated Quark if we did."

"Can the pods treat radical-6?"

"No." Harry explained what they had read on the screen.

"Are you suggesting that three of us were cryogenically frozen?" asked K.

"If you can trust what we read, yes," said Sigma.

"Which ones of us are the pods three them?" asked Alice.

"We don't know and there's no way of telling," answered Harry.

"It didn't say who or even when they were woken," added Sigma.

"So they just froze the bodies?" asked phi. "Not like a bear when they hibernate. They slow right down..."

"I think so," said Sigma.

"Then what would happen to the heart?"

"It would stop," said Harry.

"So if we went into Cold sleep, the bracelets would come off," said Sigma.

"But wouldn't they get frozen along with us?" asked Harry.

"We should go and see."

Sighing loudly, Harry followed the group.

Treatment centre

"What do you mean, it won't work?" yelled Alice.

"I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologise for Luna. Zero Sr. must have just locked out the function," says Tenmyouji.

"But it works when we were here," said Sigma. "I'm sure it did. We froze a plant."

"That rabbit might have turned it off while we weren't here," said Harry with a shrug.

"Zero Sr wouldn't leave such on obvious loophole," added K.

"Maybe I didn't have said anything," muttered phi. Zero Kurt could have great me and shut it off."

"It is an unfortunate outcome."

"Unfortunate?" asked Dio. "Really? You sure? And you a little bit relieved? After all, we were going to get our bracelets off while you were stuck with yours."

"How could you say that?"

"Dio, just keep your mouth shut," says Harry with a sigh.

**Ten minutes until Ambidex polling close. All players, enter your votes. All non-voting outs will result to sit.**

"We should go back," said cover.

"I can't leave Quark," said Tenmyouji.

"Are you nuts? You're a solo! Luna and Phi could kill you!" exclaimed Dio.

"Yeah, I know."

"Exactly. If you don't vote, you default to ally! They just have to pick betray!"

"We went," assured phi. "You starting here went change or view."

"Right," added Luna. "We always intended to choose ally. Tenmyouji staying here won't change it."

Warehouse

Harry sighed as they opened the gates. He hated this part. The rooms were interesting but he didn't like holding the fates of other people in his hands.

**Four minutes regain until polling closes**

As soon as the options assisted, he got ally. No way was he nothing s defenceless kid. Even if it meant staying in the game.

**Round two of the Ambidex game has been completed. The results will be shown in the warehouse. Ambidex gates now opening.**

The four opened. Harry ran out and over to the projector. He studied the results screen. As expected, Dio and k and slice had picked betray. Everyone else had ally.

The three with better began to argue as the gates shut.

**The Ambidex gates have closed. Round three of the Nonary game will be the star round. Star keys will be required to open the gates. There are no limits on the use of the star keys. The Ambidex gates can be opened as many times as the players wish to open them.**

"As many times as we want huh?" asked Sigma. "That means..."

"We can play as many times as we want," finished Clover.

"Hey, didn't Zero Jr say something about this?" asked Do. Harry nodded as he remembered

"Can you show me your brackets?" asked Sigma.

Harry held out his arm. As expected, the only thing that has changed was the number. Everything else was the same.

"I think we're going to have to open the white did," she phi thoughtfully. "The colours match up."

"Wait, black doesn't go into white," pointed out Harry. "And I haven't seen any black chromatic doors around."

"That's true..." Phi looked thoughtful.

"How are the groups going to match up this time..." wondered Sigma.

Phi started to work. Sigma, Tenmyouji and Quark pairs up to open one. Phi, Alice and Dio open another. K, cover and Luna opened the last one.

"Is there only one option?" asked K.

"Yes. No other colour combinations would work. But I don't see how Harry fits in. As he said, black doesn't go into white."

"I'd never thought I'd put up with Dio again," muttered Alice.

"You just didn't think hard enough," says Dio with a smile. "Sooner or later, everyone puts up with Dio. Wait."

Alice started and growled.

"So, what do we do now?" asked Luna. Harry shook his head. Everything seemed to be going fast. "It looks like we have a lot of time until the doors open."

"Yeah, about eighty minutes," said Sigma as everyone looked at the time.

"I'm worried about Quark," said Phi. "He still needs help."

"We might as well look for that medicine, Axelviar, right?" asked Alice. "We don't have anything to lose."

"Yeah. What about the rest of you?"

"I'll help," offered Luna. Everyone else agreed to have a look around, some more reluctantly. Harry sighed and nodded. Everything had returned to normal but he had a feeling that it would return.

"We should split up and search."

Dio and K went to the pantry, Alice and Luna went to the treatment centre and everyone else went to the pressure exchange room.

"Shall we regroup in the floor b warehouse ten minutes before the doors open?" asked K. Everyone nodded and separated. "Please tell Tenmyouji where and when we intend to meet and to bring Quark."

Pressure exchange room

"So this is the pressure exchange room," said Sigma as they looked around. Harry picked up one of the suits and studied it.

"No, this is the prep room" explained Phi. "The actual room is on the floor below."

"How do you know that?" asked Clover.

"Alice told me. She was one of the people who investigated this room."

"Did you ask her when you waited for us?" asked Sigma.

"Yeah."

"Why would a place like this need one of these rooms? I'd understand if we were on the moon but…" He shook his head before rubbing it. Everything has sped up again.

"Let's head downstairs," suggested Sigma.

"Good idea."

They rode the elevator down.

"So this is the real thing," muttered Sigma.

"Seems like it," said Phi. "I think, or rather Alice thinks, that the pressure inside the facility is higher than the pressure outside. It could be part of a system to keep the virus from getting inside."

"It didn't work too well," said Harry with a snort. "Quark has it and so could we. We've been in contact with him."

"Wait a minute! You mean that article was right?!" asked Sigma in disbelief.

"That seems likely."

"Something has been bothering me," said Clover. "If you're saying that if we put on those suits, we can go outside…"

"We can't do that," said Phi quickly. "The door beyond the pressure exchange is locked up tight."

"Damnit," muttered Sigma. Harry ruffled through a cupboard.

"I'll go look upstairs. You can take down here." Phi left as Harry rubbed his back and followed the two into the chamber.

"What do you think this is about?" asked Sigma.

"Some kind of test I think," said Harry thoughtfully. "I think I've heard something like this before. Like to see what people would do in a certain situation."

"That's not what I'm talking about. A pandemic would be on the news but I don't remember anything about it."

"Wait, you were talking about it Clover," said Harry with a frown, "Jest after Quark tried to kill himself. Then Alice said she heard rumours of a virus being used as a bioweapon."

"So what's the rumour?" asked Sigma. "I get the feeling you were talking about it."

Clover remained silent.

"What do you and Alice know? And what are you? You seem to belong to some kind of organisation."

"I don't know…" muttered Harry. A flicker of insight hit him. SOIS. Clover was silent for some time, biting her thumb and looking at the floor.

"Fine. I think I can trust you. Don't tell Alice though."

"Alright," agreed Sigma.

"Promise?"

Harry nodded.

"Alice and I are agents of the SOIS which is under the jurisdiction of the department of defence. SOIS stands for special office of internal security. We're an elite intelligence division that investigates potentially disruptive or dangerous elements such as domestic or foreign terrorists, radical political splinter groups and religious organisations with extreme agendas that could pose a threat to the state or citizenry. Our existence hasn't been made public so there are only a few people who even know we exist. You're probably wondering how I got involved in something like that huh?" harry nodded. "It started when I met Alice. I've told you that I've played the Nonary game twice before. This was after the second time. So about a year ago. We'd just escaped and were driving across the desert stuffed in a SUV. I was driving. That's when I saw her with her thumb out, standing next to the road. She had already working for the SOIS and she'd been on her way to the building we'd been trapped in as part pf her investigation. On the way there, her car had broken down. We offered her a ride of course. After she got in, we talked and it turned out that Alice had gotten a tip that the terrorists that she was after were in the building we were trapped in. we couldn't see how playing the Nonary game had anything to do with terrorists. But Alice had a suggestion, that the two people who had trapped us in there were the terrorists. That didn't seem very likely but we were chasing after them anyway so we brought Alice. We didn't find them and Harry had already managed to get away from his bonds and escaped."

"Wait, I was tied up?" asked Harry in confusion.

"You had helped set it up. Anyway, as far as we know, the two that escaped had disappeared. And now you turn up again. Are you sure you don't remember anything?"

"_Come on Harry." Harry jumped into the car and sat in the back. "You were being slow."_

"_Sorry Aoi, had to wait for them to be distracted before i could get away. You ok Akane?"_

"_I'm fine. Thank you for helping to set this up." Harry sent a look at the woman in the front._

"_It's not the first time I've worked with you. And you're need alive to save the future if I don't succeed in my mission."_

"There's something. Do the names Aoi and Akane mean anything to you?"

"That's it! Those where the people who set it up! We'll have to bring you in after we get out of here. Anyway, we were taken back to SOIS headquarters and put into custody. I guess they thought that there had to be a connection between us being kidnapped and the terrorist group they were investigating. But they must not have found anything as they let us go after a few days of questioning. We all went home and returned to our lives. But things didn't return to what they had been. my mum got real worried about me and my brother as we'd been kidnapped twice now so we got bodyguards.

"Light. Your brother is Light."

"That's right Harry. We had escaped one kind of prison for another. My brother is super awesome and he was in both of the last two Nonary games too. The people behind the last two Nonary games were different. Harry had infiltrated the first group to try and help us but ended up dying to protect us. I was surprised to see you again when you turned up in the second though you did say something about keeping the promise to get us out of the first Nonary game. Anyway, that didn't matter to my mum though so these men in black suits followed us around. It was awful. People would look at us funny because of them. The only time I was truly happy was when I was hanging out with my brother. We decided to run away one day. I worked in a café and my brother composed music. It got popular and we made a bit so we didn't have to worry about surviving too much. One day Alice showed up. She needed our help. She needed people that could do what we could do. We went to the location she gave us and it was the SOIS headquarters. They put us in the same room as about a dozen or so other people. They were about our age and looked familiar. It didn't take us long to realise that we were the kids that were in the first Nonary game. Alice came in and explained that she brought us here because of our abilities and that the SOIS wanted to use them to prevent a terrorist organisation from releasing a viral pandemic. We are what they called espers which means we can access the morphogenetic field."

"The morphogenetic field?" asked Sigma.

"We can do this thing that's kinda like telepathy. It isn't really but it's the closest thing. Espers can resonate their concnesses with another person through the morphogenetic filed. The purpose of the first Nonary game was to research that ability so they kidnapped the children with the potential and threw then into the game. Alice had gathered the kids. I had started to forget I could do that stuff. Anyway, I was trying to move on and some government people wanted me to use some weird ability for them so they could stop a virus being released. No way. I wasn't even sure I could do it. Some of the kids did join but me and my brother left. A few days later, Alice turned up. She told us that some of the people who were behind the Nonary game might have been part fo the terrorist group. I mentioned your name Harry and they put a trace on you but you had hidden yourself pretty well. She also contacted Seven, one of the guys kidnapped for the second game. He said that we were the only ones who could do this. They couldn't find Junpei as he went to travel the world to look for you and Akane. Seven was a Japanese policeman so that's how Alice got in touch with him. We joined the SOIS and had months of training to use our abilities as well as other stuff. On our first mission, I got caught and Alice had to rescue me. I transmitted everything I knew to my brother. Some of that was valuable. We managed to get their headwaters and planned to infiltrate it on December 258th, 2028. Then on the 22nd, three days before, me and Alice got attacked and woke up here."

Clover seemed tired from all that talking.

"Do you know if it's possible for someone to use the morphogenetic field to send their consciousness to another time?" asked Harry.

"I don't know. soory"

"I've got a few questions," said Sigma.

"What are they?"

"I'm guessing you can't use your powers at the moment."

"Yeah. I don't know why. I've been sending my brother messages ever since I woke up but no reply. If there was another esper here, they could make me stronger. Wait, if there's someone stronger than me then they kind of absorb my powers."

"I think I get what Alice was saying now. They were trying to spread that virus weren't they?"

"Yeah."

"So who are they?"

"I can't tell you that."

"What? Why? You told us everything else."

"Alice would be mad at me."

"We told you that we wouldn't tell,2 Said Harry.

"Let me rephrase. When are they going to do it?"

"I think they have," said Harry with a frown. "That virus was Radical-6 if I understand what Clover was saying."

"It could be. All we knew was soon. It was something about purifying the unclean. Unclean... unclean… unclean…"

"What?"

"Hold on a minute. I'm this close to remembering. Unclean… clean… ean… ean… Neostigmine!"

She leapt up in excitement. Harry winced as he head throbbed.

"What?" asked Sigma.

"Isn't that the stuff in the injections gun?" asked Harry. "I think it has something to do with the muscle relaxant in our bracelets. How do I know that?"

"Hey, looks like Harry is an esper. There's no way you could have known that unless you accessed the morphogenetic field. And I guess that explains your blackouts. Something caused you to go to sleep so you could access it. Anyway, yes it's the one that counteracts the muscle relaxant in our bracelets."

"So if we inject ourselves with that, we can avoid getting penalised?" asked Sigma.

"One of us can," said Harry as he squinted at it.

"It's still good news," said Sigma.

"The best way to use it is to sneak through the number nine door," said Clover. "I'm going to tell Alice!"

She ran off and Harry and Sigma followed her.

"Phi?" The girl was staring at nothing and looked ill. "Where did Cover go?"

Phi didn't do anything.

"Phi? Can you hear us?" Sigma waved his hand in front of her face before shaking her. She limply raised her arm and pointed at the door. Harry groaned slightly. Everything was going too fast and he had a headache.

They ran out the door and looked for her. They searched everywhere except the infirmary.

"Oh my…" Harry stared at the bodies and the blood. Everything went out of focus. "What happened?"

Sigma collapsed to the floor. "Why…? How could…?"

Everyone else was dead. An island of bodies in a sea of blood. Harry felt sick.

"Radical-6…" He was infected too. He knew it. If he didn't get the cure, he would commit suicide. Just like everyone in the room.

"This is how it ends. I know it. I have to end it. This nightmare. If I die, I wake up." Sigma picked up the bloody scalpel and slit his throat. Harry gulped as the blood joined the rest of it. He picked it up and considered it.

"No, I can't leave. If I wait, I'll just die anyway. And I wonder. If I die, will that ability of mine to jump through timelines appear?"

It was like another hand was guiding his as he also slit his throat. He woke in a field of blackness before light hit his eyes.


	4. Restart

I don't own Harry Potter or Virtue's last reward

Restart

Harry groaned and opened his eyes before looking around the AB room.

"What the?" He checked his bracelet before pressing the buttons on the side. One hour until the doors opened. "I'm back at the start? I jumped back this far? Oh, let me see, Espers, people committing suicide and then ending back here. Oh great. I have to go through the AB game again."

"How are you feeling Hattie? Woken up yet?"

"Lagomorph. Can you give me some information? Like how I got back here."

"Sorry Hattie, I can't do that. And there's no point me explaining this because you already know it. Bye!"

"Wait!" The rabbit had already disappeared. "Oh man. We'll have to stop Quark from trying to kill himself and all that. But since I'm back here, I can make a different choice."

He entered the password for the safe, and left the AB room through the hatch. He waited for everyone to come out and repeated what he had said the first time.

**"Chromatic doors have now opened. Five minutes regain until doors close."**

The doors slid open as the announcement echoed through the room. Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Looks like your time's up. You're better get to it and get those doors opened." Harry glared at the rabbit who sent him a look.

"Fuck that. We aren't going to open shit!" Harry raised an eyebrow at Dio's language.

"Fuck you Dio." The words slipped out of his mouth. "We don't have much of a choice."

"If anyone is left outside after the doors close, they'll be..." Zero trailed off, increasing the tension.

"They'll what?" asked Quark.

"Penalised."

"What the hell is the penalty anyway?" asked Dio.

"Death." That shut everyone up. "Your bracelets contain two drugs. The first is an anaesthetic called Soporil β. The other is a relaxant called Tubocurarine. Your bracelet also has a bunch of needles. If you break the rules, the needles hop out and inject you. First with the Soporil which puts you to sleep. Nine minutes later, the Tubocurarine is injected and numbs your respiratory muscles. I guess you could say that it will take your breath Soporil is there out of the kindness of Zero's heart. I mean the real Zero, not me. Zero doesn't want to see anybunny suffer. Isn't that so compassionate? If I had a heart, it would be melting. Anyway, you'll be dying pretty painlessly. There's nothing to worry about. If you follow the rules, that won't happen."

"You do have a weird sense of humour." Harry shook his head. Trying to keep to the timeline was hard.

"**Three minutes left until chromatic doors close."**

"Looks like it's time for me to hop out of here. See you later. Have a nice trap."

The projector turned off.

"What the fuck?" Harry rested his head in his hands. He had enough in the first time through, now he had to do it again.

_Stay with Siggy._

"What are we going to do?" asked Luna desperately. "We have to go. We have to use these doors."

"But how do we know which for to do though?" asked Quark.

"You still don't get it?" asked Phi. "Fine, just pay attention. We don't have much time. Zero's explanation was pretty confusing so I'll put it in small words. There are three possible options for the main groups."

Phi continued to explain. The red pair girls go with the blue solo through the magenta door. The red solo would go with the green pair through the yellow door. The green style would go through the blue pair through the cyan door.

Another option was the red pair going with the green solo through the yellow door. The red solo would go with the blue pair through the magenta door. The green pair would go with the blue solo through the cyan door.

The last option was the reds paring up to go through the cyan door, the blues paring up to go through the yellow door and the greens going through the magenta door.

"And these options don't include Harry who goes where he pleases. Which ones do we choose?"

"Please Sigma, choose something," begged Luna.

"WHY ME?" The stress was getting to him.

"Alice or Clover could choose," suggested Luna. Harry glanced around as he felt time running out. "Or anyone. When one person chooses, everyone else will be sorted."

**"One minute until chromatic doors close."**

"Alright! I'll pick!" Everyone listened carefully. "Phi and I will go through the magenta door with Luna. That sounds good?"

Harry frowned slightly. That hadn't happened last time. "I'll go with Sigma."

They walked through the door as time ran out. The familiar light scented then and they said to the lounge.

"That was close," commented Harry. "Look! Drinks!"

"What is this place?" asked Sigma.

"Didn't you see the sign? This is the lounge," said Phi.

"Does that mean that people are living here?" asked Sigma.

"There isn't much dust," said Linda. "Harry, I don't think you should be drinking."

"So you've got a well-used, well stocked lounge next to an empty warehouse," said Sigma. "That's odd."

"It's possible that Zero lived here," said Harry with a shrug as he tried his drink away.

"There are four doors," says Luna as she looked around.

"Yeah. The one we can in, the one opposite and the ones on the left and right," said Phi as she looked at them. "The ones on the sides are covered. I don't think we'll be opening them any time soon."

"I think we should focus on putting that one," said Harry as he pointed at it. "It has a lock so it has to be able to be opened."

"You seem to know a lot," says Phi suspiciously.

"Uh, no. Just observant." Harry met her eyes. "Let's try to find the key."

He moved a pillow and picked up the magazine.

"Look at this. It's a magazine on astronomy."

Phi took out from him and looked at it. "It could be when we are."

Grumbling about Phi's behaviour, Harry looked up the quarter sphere and looked around again. He collected the pieces on the table and fit them together. Collecting the alcohol, he found another piece of what seemed to be a globe before finding the last piece in a cupboard. He picked up the glasses as well before walking over to the table.

"I get it," said Phi. "The globe fits here."

"Well duh Phi."

He placed the two hands on the clock and pointed them to the time on the magazine.

"A green sun," muttered Phi. Harry matches the sick and out it on the May. He made the other two and the screen lit up with the password

"I've seen this before," said Luna

"In the AB room?" asked Harry.

"Yeah."

"There's a safe in here too then," said Sigma as he looked around.

They found the safe and put in the password.

"It opened."

"There's a bunch of stuff in here," says Harry as they pulled it out. "A map. I think it's of this floor."

"And two cards," said Phi. "Sun cards."

The same symbol flashed over Harry's bracelet.

"How do we get back to the warehouse?" asked Luna.

"I have a feeling that the door will unlock now," said Harry as he stood.

"Hare are a few more rules for you," read out Sigma from a note. "Once you've opened a door, you can hop through it as much as you like. The chromatic doors are like that to. Once you open them, even I carrot keep you from going in and out of them. Any colour of bracelet and add many little as you like. But, you have to escape before you can take advantage of this rule. It won't let you go back until you've solved the puzzle."

_Huh. Nothing about Radical-6'_

They unlocked the door and to the elevator. Harry listen to the conversation, piping in where he needed to buy otherwise starting silent. He's already listen to a similar vibration so there was nothing new.

"Hey grandpa, there's some of your favourite drinks here." Quark pointed at it as they passed through the lounge.

"I doubt think now is the time. It's still tempting."

"Let's get out of here. Then you can drink root beer float and I can drink scotch."

"You're going to get more a root beer float?" Quark seemed surprised. "Do you have the money?"

Harry listened but paid little attention to the others as he waited to go into the AB rooms. As soon as he could, he opened the door before Sigma called out.

"There's a lady over here! She's unconscious!"

Harry ran into the room that the shout had come from to find Phi and Sigma rolling the mentioned lady gently over. It was still sad to see her like this, even though he'd seen it before.

"Blood." Harry stared at the lady as another episode hit him. "She's..."

_Harry, I know you find me on multiple timeless. Each time, pretend that you never found me. It makes this more like you've never seen me before._

"What the hell is happening here?!" Dio stopped as soon as he saw the body. Harry still thought he had something to do with it.

"Is she?" asked Quark but Harry covered his eyes with his hands.

"You don't want to see this Quark. Trust me."

He pulled Quark out of the room.

"Then… she's…?" K couldn't get the question out.

"Yeah. She's not breathing and there's no pulse. Her body's already cold do I guess she was… I'm guessing she was murdered a while ago. Harry collapsed as soon as he saw her."

It looked like she was stabbed," said Phi as she walked back to the group. "I don't see a weapon around here though."

"I don't think the murderer would have hidden it with the body," said Harry as he joined her. "That doesn't make sense."

"The murder weapon could be a part of them," said Phi thoughtfully as she looked at K. "Well, if someone was strong enough and they had metal hands, they'd possibly be able to stab someone in the heart."

"I don't think so Phi. Judging by the looks of the wound, the weapon was a knife." Everyone stared at Harry. "My aunt watched a lot of detective programs to insult the detective, I learnt a bit off them."

"Let's take her to the infirmary," said Phi. "She may be old but she's still a woman. If we're going to do an autopsy, she should have some privacy. Come one boys, let's go."

Dio, Sigma and K gingerly carried her to the infirmary. Tenmyouji just stared into space.

"That woman. Did you know her?" asked Harry as he stood next to him.

"She reminds me of someone. And it's none of your business."

They followed slowly.

"She looks so peaceful. Like she's going to war up any moment now," said Sigma.

"Maybe she didn't suffer much when she died," suggested Phi.

"Let's hope so."

Closing his eyes, Harry considered who had killed her. It had to be before the game started or while they were in the chromatic doors. That meant that either someone had killed her or there was an eleventh person running around.

"Anyway, I feel a little bad about this but we're going to need to examine her," said Phi.

"You mean an autopsy or something?" asked Dio. Harry stared at the man in the glaringly colourful clothes. Was he stupid?

"I'm just having a look at the wound," explained Phi. "If we had a coroner, it would be different but…"

"Um…" Luna looked nervous.

"What?"

"I have a medical license."

"You're a nurse?" asked Quark in surprise.

"No…"

"You're a doctor?"

"Well, I'm not exactly a coroner…"

"Well, I guess you can't really judge a book by its cover," said Alice. "Maybe you can check Harry over too. Maybe there's some brain damage."

"Sorry…"

"You don't need to apologise," said Alice with an eye roll.

"Are you going to perform an autopsy?" asked Clover curiously.

"Um, I won't really be doing it but I think that machine is a medical scanner. It called an ADAM. It uses nuclear magnetic resonance imaging to examine and diagnose people."

"I remember," said K.

"How?"

"I was one of the ones who investigated this room."

"So you can use it to perform some kind of autopsy?" asked Sigma.

"Yes. I think I can manage that."

Luna scanned the body before turning back to the terminal. The display filled with text.

Sex: Female

Estimated age: 65-75 years

Diagnosis: deceased

Cause of death: exsanguination

Estimate time of death: three to four hours

Damage trajectory: weapon entered through 4th intercostal, piercing heart

Wound characteristics:

Wound margin – clean, continuous

Wound angles – 1 sharp, 1 blunt

Wound cavity – 150 mm

Wound length – 30 mm

Wound width – 3 mm

Conclusion: based on the characteristics, there is a 95% chance that the wound was caused by a sharp, single bladed instrument.

"So someone stabbed her," said Harry as he finished reading.

"Most likely," agreed Luna.

"In the heart?" asked Alice.

"Yes."

"Well, I guess that clears me of suspicion," said K.

"Unless you have a knife hidden somewhere," said Harry. "It could be an eleventh person."

"Not really. The old lady was found in the end room where you and Clover were," explained Phi. "Only one was conscious."

"Phi, stop joking around," said K desperately. "I assure you, there was no one in that room besides Clover when I woke up."

"Anyway, someone could be framing them," said Harry.

"The door was locked, right?" asked Quark.

"True, but remember what the rabbit said? He controls all the doors. He could have opened it for them." commented Harry.

"And there was a hatch on the ceiling, right?" asked K.

"Yes, there was," said Luna. "But Zero said he'd locked all the hatches."

"You fucking bastard! Why did you kill her?! I knew it! You're the real Zero!" yelled Dio.

"But he could have unlocked them again," suggested Harry. "Or lied. And Dio, before you blame someone, please make sure you have proof."

"And if I was Zero, why would I do something that would cast suspicion on me?" asked K.

"Because you'd figured we'd think that and you did it to throw us off," suggested Dio after a pause.

"That's not a logical argument," said K calmly. "Still, you have half a point. Your argument doesn't confirm my guilt but it does tell us where we should be looking. The real Zero. The person that brought us here could have murdered her and be the eleventh person like Harry said. It would also explain how the body moved."

"That makes sense," said Clover. "If Zero was the murderer, they could open anything they'd like."

"And if the murderer wasn't Zero, why did the AI stay quiet?" asked K. "He said his job was to make the job run smoothly."

"Zero could have told him to stay quiet," offered Harry. "Which means that the murder was part of the game…"

Looks of shock covered everyone's faces.

"If Zero…. Let's call him Zero Sr, did order Zero Jr, the AI, to keep quiet, that means that the murderer was expected," commented K. "If Zero Jr did tell us, it probably compromise Zero Sr identity. Like the Harry said, the murder could have been expected. Zero Sr murdered her."

"But we can't rule out us," said Harry with a frown.

"Killing someone is just a part of the game to him?" asked Sigma.

"Well, there's no way to be sure but I assume so," said K.

**Ten minutes remain until Ambidex polling closes. All players please enter your votes. If no vote is recorded before the deadline has passed, any non-voting parties automatically ally.**

"What was that?" asked Sigma.

"Don't know," said Clover.

"Well, one thing's for sure," said Alice. "If we don't go vote, something bad is going to happen."

"You see? Zero Jr makes sure the game continues even though someone has died. All of this is part of a plan," said K.

"And don't forget Zero Sr's assistant," added Harry. "He or she could have a role."

"Yeah, he could do it!" Dio pointed a finger at Harry. "Who knows what that bracelet of his can do?! For all we know, he could have slipped around and killed her while we weren't looking! You weren't even surprised to see her!"

"I didn't kill her! You could have killed her too Dio! And how do you know that I was supposed but wasn't showing it?"

Dio twitched before looking horrified.

"How dare you suggest such a thing!"

"Hmm…" Phi stared at Harry. "Let's get back to the warehouse. If we entered the AB rooms, maybe we'll see Zero Jr. after all, he told us he'd give us specifics once we'd gone in."

They ran back to the AB rooms and entered them. Approaching the screen, Harry touched start. The doors closed.

"Well, I'm not getting out of here."

He pressed start and ignored the excavation.

_The second play through, you find out about Dio. That means you have to betray Luna._

"I'm sorry about this Luna. I'll make it up to you on another round."

He pressed betray.

**Round one of the Ambidex game has been completed. Results will be displayed in the warehouse. Then you for your participation. Ambidex gates are now opening.**

Harry walked out. Like before, phi and sigma were the last to him the group. Every group had the same results.

"Why did you do that?" asked Luna, close to tears. "All we had to do was pick ally three times and we could all escape together. We would have only needed two more rounds."

Harry closed his eyes, having the decency to feel a tribe of regret.

"It was me," said Phi. "I told him to betray you."

"What?"

"There's a way to get out faster. If you're successful with betray, you can do it in two."

"Is that why you choose betray? So you can get out quicker?"

"Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to get out. Just wanted to have a little leverage."

"How is leverage going to help you?"

"I was planning to get out of here with everybody else..."

"You're lying. What makes you think that I'm booing to believe that?"

Harry listened to the other conversations. He ignored the explanations as he knew they would be the same. The only difference was the points, colours and pairings. Everyone split and Harry chief up in a corner. Footsteps approached and he looked up to see Phi.

**"**What do you want Phi?"

"I know this may seem a little random but do you know what a PEC is?"

"Pressure exchange chamber," said Harry automatically before wincing. What a stupid thing to say.

"I see. You wouldn't know that, since you're from 1991..."

"How the hell do you know that?!" Harry jumped to his feet. "That didn't happen!"

"I'm not sure. I think it's because we can send our consciousnesses though time. That's not really accurate. It's like we can move through worlds."

"Worlds?" Harry tilted his head.

"Yeah. I don't mean physical planets. I'm talking about a whole different universe really. Parallel worlds."

"So the world where we committed suicide isn't the same one as this?"

"No." Phi shook her head. Harry watched Sigma exit the room. "I don't remember much though. I remember asking you about when you came from and us examining the PEC room but nothing else."

"Something tells me they picked us up on different days. Clover and Alice were taken on the 22nd. I think Sigma was taken on the 25th... Just who are you Phi?"

"I'm not Superman or Batman or Spiderman or Aquaman or merman or wolfman or Brahman or common or ramen or caiman. You could say that I'm no man."

"That's informative," said Harry with a sigh. "Not."

"I'm going back to the infirmary," said Phi.

"Keep an eye on Quark. He's infected with Radical-6."

Harry stretched as he watched Phi go. It was good to know that he wasn't the only one that could jump through time. He checked the time before stressing up and listening in to the vibrations in the rooms. It was weird how nobody noticed him. Posting the buttons in the side, she grabbed brute having seen to the elevator.

**Chromatic doors have opened. Five minutes remain until Chromatic doors close.**

"You're late" says Alice as the remaining people appeared. "What we're you going?"

"Sorry," apologised Sigma.

"An apology isn't going to cut it! I can't go through the door without you! Zero says we'd get penalised if we didn't go through the primary door when it closed. Are you trying to kill me?"

"Paranoid much?" asked Harry.

"I thought you didn't need a partner to go through the primary door though," said a confused Sigma.

"Are you kidding me? Think it through Sigma! Yes, you can go through the Primary door by yourself. Now you're in front of the secondary door. The time limit comes and the primary door closes. Now what? Now, you're stuck that's what! Without the right number of bracelets, the secondary door won't open. Do you understand?!"

"There be no way to open either door, huh?" asked Dio.

"No," said Harry with a shrug.

"That sounds worse than having your lungs shut off."

"Sorry for worrying you Quark," said Tenmyouji to Quark.

_"Why didn't Quark show any symptoms? Was Harry right?_

_"Of course I'm right. I saw him try to commit suicide."_

Phi started at him as Harry realised that she hasn't spoken aloud.

"In any event, now isn't the time to be fighting like this," said K. "As you can see, the primary doors have opened. We must decide who's going with who."

"So, how should we team up?" Sigma asked Phi.

"We're nearly out of time. I'll explain it as fast as possible. Just as before, there are three possible combinations."

Alice, Sigma and Luna could pair up to go through the green door. Tenmyouji, Quark and Clover could open the blue door. Phi, Dio and K could open the red door.

Alice, Sigma and K could open the blue door. Tenmyouji, Quark and Luna could open the red door. Phi, Dio and Clover could open the green door.

Alice, Sigma and Clover could open the red door. Luna, Phi and Dio could open the blue door. Tenmyouji, Quark and K could open the green door.

**Three minutes remain until Chromatic doors close.**

"So, who goes where?" asked Sigma.

"I'm not going with K," said Alice. "I had enough of that last time thank you very much."

"Oh dear, looks like I'm not wanted," said a sad K.

"I'd like Luna to come with us," said Dio.

"Huh? Me?" asked a confused Luna.

"Need someone gullible for the next AB game, huh?" asked Phi.

"Shut up. Aren't you my partner?"

"Maybe but that doesn't mean I'll agree with you."

Dio muttered to himself under his breath.

"You betrayed me last time Phi," said Luna. "And you betrayed Tenmyouji Dio."

"Come on! Didn't I tell you? It was Quark!"

"Yeah and it is so like you to put the blame on anyone but yourself," said Harry with a snort. Everybody decided to go with the last option. Harry sighed.

"I think that Harry should come with us," said Dio.

"No way. I don't trust you Dio." Harry shook his head. "I'm going to go with Sigma."

**Ten seconds until the Chromatic doors close.**

They walked into the rooms. The door closed and they were scanned before following the path.

"Not this again," muttered Harry as he looked at a familiar room. Sigma glanced at him before pulling the lever on Alice's command.

"That's interesting." The door on the right opened. "It's kinda weird. Why just that one?"

"Perhaps it scans the brackets and opens a door depending on the combination," suggested Harry.

"Maybe."

They entered the open door and followed the corridor to the pantry.

"This is amazing," whispered Clover as they looked around. "Who'd need this much underwear?"

"What?" asked Sigma.

"The door said pantry not panty," chuckled Harry. "That's a lot of food in this room."

"Pantry?"

"You keep food there," sighed Alice.

"I guess that makes more sense." Clover laughed nervously as she turned red.

"What do you think that thing is?" asked Sigma as he pointed towards a machine.

"Water storage tank by the looks of it," said Alice as she looked at it.

"And lots of food," said Harry as he rubbed his head. "Is this place some kind of sanctuary?"

"What kind of sanctuary is it with only ten of us and a deadly game?" asked Alice.

"Uh, a very competitive one? We don't know how many people survived."

"Let's get looking around then," suggested Sigma.

Harry walked up to a hard to get to cabinet. He picked up the folder, opened it before staring in confusion at the papers. He shrugged and took them, shut the door and unlocked the locks on the wheels. Sigma helped him to move it. They looked at the items before picking them up. Sigma tried to open an ice machine but it was locked.

"I need a button." He picked up a part of a button from the nearby table. Harry took the notes from the machine next to it. He saw a calendar on a wall and matched the days up.

"There's something on the back," said Clover.

Harry turned it over. The day the man was abducted. Sigma opened the draw on the machine where Harry had gotten the dates and picked up a metal piece. He combined it with the piece he got earlier to make a button and fit it in the ice machine. He tried to close the draw but it came out.

"You broke it," complained Clover.

Sigma unlocked the ice machine and opened it to reveal it was empty. Harry maneuvered the lid to get an ice cube out, put it in the draw and placed it back in the machine to melt. He collected the boxes while he waited as well as a beaker. Sigma took the card as Harry tested the water and returned the boxes to their place.

Harry returned to the food machine and entered the right dates. Clover collected the food and placed it in the box. They changed the food over and collected the password. They put it in the safe. Harry paid a little bit of attention to what the others were saying. They put the key in the lock and walked out.

**An Ambidex gate has been opened. 45 minutes remain until Ambidex game polling closes.**

"The gate's been opened?" asked Sigma in shock.

"One of the other teams must have done it," said Alice.

"But the rest of us aren't back yet," said Clover.

"Then lets move," said Harry. The blue door opened to reveal K and Tenmyouji.

"Did you two just get back?" asked Sigma.

"Yes we did but!" Tenmyouji seemed worried.

"Then the team that opened the AB gate must have been the ones that went through the blue door," said Alice.

"I reckon it was Dio," said Harry. "I never trusted him."

"Have any of you seen Quark?" asked Tenmyouji.

"Not since we separated," said Harry. He must have summed to Radical-6.

He's gone!"

"Gone?" sigma asked.

"On the other side of the green door, we found a room called the treatment centre," worked k. "We found key card and left by he just disguised."

"All you went through the blue door to see if he went there?" asked signs. Harry closed his eyes.

"No. That's not it. Look at this map." K taxed the route with his finger.

"You can get from the green door to the treatment centre to the blue door," stuff Harry with a yawn. He'd seem out between in and Senate timeline.

"There's a pity big room in the middle there," says Alice.

"I think it's a warehouse," said Harry. "It seems to be under the one on for A."

They split up as they looked for Quark. Harry closed his eyes as he stressed. He could feel seven dots.

Guess they're the other players. In sending them through the morphogenetic field.

There was a weak, faint one and Harry worked towards it.

"Quark!" Harry knocked the scalpel from his hands and knocked him out before carrying him back to the infirmary.

"Harry! You have to come with me!" Phi was weird. "Something's happened! You've got to come to the crew quarters."

Harry nodded before running to the crew quarters. He stared opened mouthed at Aliceand Luna on the floor. Looking at their bracelets, Harry sighed. They'd come off so they were most definitely dead.

Radical-6.

Tenmyouji and Sigma ran in.

"What in the world..."

Sigma checked their pulse. "They're dead. Both of them."

One of the dots had just flickered out.

_Why can't I sense Luna?"_

"Who found them?" asked Sigma.

"Clover I think," said Phi. "When K and I ran over, she was just standing over the bodies. It was pretty clear they were both dead."

"I think Clover killed them," said Dio.

"We don't have any proof of that," said Harry. "She could have just found the bodies. Alice was a friend of hers. Seeing that must have shaken her."

Everyone stared to talk.

"Quark could have done it," suggested Dio.

"No, he couldn't. I found him and out him in the infirmary," said Harry as he shook his head. "He has a scalpel in his hands."

**Ten minutes remain until Ambidex polling closes. So players enter your votes. If no votes are recorded, any non voting plays will automatically ally.**

"Shoot. Time to head to the AB rooms guys," said Dio.

"We've got more important things to worry about," said Sigma as he shook his head.

"Ohh, you're going to abstain, are you?" asked Dio. "That's good luck for you Clover and Harry. Sigma was paired with Alice. Sadly, it looks like she won't be able to vote. If Sigma abstained, the only people you'd have to worry about eye the two of you."

"I didn't say I wouldn't vote!"

Harry started to move towards the warehouse. He heard footsteps following him. Pressing his hand to the scanner, he entered the room and touched the panel.

**One minute remains until Ambidex polling closes.**

Harry hit betray again. That meant that no matter how the others voted, he could get out of the hell hole. Though a part of him enjoyed the mystery of the place.

The doors opened and the doors opened as the announcer says the recorded message.

"Dio!" Everyone ran across. Harry sent a look at his bracelet. Nine. No, still six. But it would go up to nine.

"What are you doing Dio?" asked Clover.

"Escaping," said Harry.

I see. Luna is as she is. She would have defaulted to ally," said K.

"Why didn't you stop him Phi?" demanded Tenmyouji.

"You hit the wrong idea old man," said Dio. "This wasn't just my decision. We both decided to vote this way."

"Is that true?" asked Tenmyouji.

"Yeah."

"Listen through. No matter what haired in the AB game, kinda would still be dead," said Harry. "You can't kill her twice."

He's changed. When did this haired?

Harry glanced at Phi, not hearing the rest of the conversation. The results appeared on the screen. Harry sighed when he saw the results. Cover yelled at Sigma for being her. Dio opened the door.

**The number nine door had been opened. It will remain open for nine seconds. **

Tenmyouji leapt at Dio as Harry walked through. Since and phi umped through at the last second.

**The number nine door has closed. This ends the Nonary game. Thank you for your participation.**

"Sigma!" Tenmyouji banged on the door in anger. "Phi! Dio! Harry! Open up! Open this goddamn door!"

The elevator started to go up.

"So then. Here we are," said Dio.

"Is that a hallway?" asked Phi.

"Only one way to find out."

They walked down it and started through a door.

"This must be the prep room," said Dio.

"I think I searched this place with Dio and Luna," said Phi.

"I don't think this is the same room," said Harry with a groan.

"You really think that you would have been able to get to something like this on the other side of the number nine door?" asked Sigma.

"Hold up," said Dio. "You know about the one on Floor B too?"

"Yeah. I went it with Tenmyouji when we were looking for Quark."

"So you know the pressure in here is a lot higher than the pressure outside?" asked Phi.

"What?"

"Ohh, you didn't."

"What are you talking about?" asked Sigma.

"Is this place underwater or something?" asked Harry.

"Didn't I just say? The pressure inside the facility is higher than outside. Supposedly that's to keep the virus out. If you're leaving, you need to lower the pressure until it matches what's outside. This is where you prepare for all that."

Harry nodded. He remembered that from the other timeline. He pulled on a suit as did the others. They started into the room.

"I'd never thought I'd succeed so easily." Harry stared at Dio.

"You mean getting out of here?" asked Sigma.

"No. You're thinking too small."

"Are you saying that you wanted to be in this game?" asked Harry.

"Well, the boy isn't as stupid as he looks. Thinking you're so special because you got shot and survived ten years ago."

"What?"

"Anyway, I guess I can tell you who I am."

"What?" asked Phi in confusion.

"You see, I'm a hero. I was sent here from far away you save making." Everyone agreed at him. "What? Too skidded to steal."

"I have a hard time believing that," said Harry.

"And I think you should calm down," said Sigma.

"We're all excited to be getting out of here but..."

"Never mind," sighed Dio. "You're clearly too small minded to understand."

A door opened. The four went through to find an identical room. They crossed two more times before walking later. Harry looked up at the moon and frowned. It didn't look like the moon he remembered.

"What the hell?"

"It looks like a desert," said Phi.

"I don't think it is," said Harry as he touched the ground. "This is rock."

"I think I know when we are," said Phi. "The moon's red. It's a total lunar eclipse."

"I remember you talking about that," said Sigma. "In the lounge."

"Do you remember when the next lunar eclipse is supposed to happen?"

"December 31st, 2028," said Harry. "So today is the last day of 2028."

"That means I've been here six days!"

"Ave I have no idea how long I've been here," says Harry.

"We should get to the nearest town," said Phi.

"And where would that be?" asked Sigma.

"There had to be one around. Even deserts have some towns. I'm just worried about something."

"Are there any survivors? Harry looked at Phi as she fell over. Sigma helped her up.

"Where are we? Oh, this timeline."

"Timeline?"

Harry understood. Phi had jumped through time. This was some other version of her.

"Where's Dio?"

"I don't know."

"We need to find him!"

"Why?" Harry looked confused.

"He needs to tell me something. Why are you asking me this?"

"What?"

"Don't tell me you forgot. Wait. He must not have made this jump." Phi muttered to herself. "Forget about that! Just find Dio! I'm going over that hill. You take the other direction. Harry, you come with me!"

Harry didn't object. He knew that Phi knew what she was taking about. He followed her.

_Phi, what's going on? When are you from?_

_You don't need t to know. Just find Dio. I know you can. It's a gift of yours. You're an exceptionally powerful esper Harry._

Harry frowned as they neared the hill, sensing a dot nearby. Dio was nearly at the bottom on the other side, crouching over something. He followed Phi to him.

"What the hell are you doing Dio? Give me that transmitter. You going to phone home? I bet Free the Soul is anxious to hear from you. Oh, if you don't start, I'll just get my friend here to rip the information from you. He's good at that. He can do it without any training."

"How the hell do you know?" asked Dio as he shielded the machine.

"Heh. I know everything about you. I know about the Myrmidons. Never mind that. I need to ask you something. What's the password for the number zero bomb?"

"Bomb?" Harry stared at Phi in surprise.

"Not now Harry."

"Heh. Looks like your friend isn't in the know. And what the hell are you man?"

"I am no man."

"How can you crack jokes right now?"

"You haven't given me my answer. What's the deactivation code?"

"Phi, Sigma's coming," said Harry as he glanced back. Dio leapt at Phi.

"Hey! What are…! Stop!"

Dio was about to smash a rock into Phi's helmet.

"Stop!"

Sigma tackled Dio.

"Nice timing Sigma," said Harry with a smile.

"Thanks. That was a close one."

"No sweat. What's this transmitter you were talking about?"

"You heard huh?" asked Phi.

"Yeah. And what were you talking about when you said Harry could just rip the information from him?"

"I meant what I said. I don't think we'll need to do it though. As for the transmitter, it's right over there. See that briefcase looking thing?"

The two looked where phi was pointing.

"He was trying to contact someone."

"Where did he get that?" asked Sigma in surprise.

"I think he hid it somewhere," said Harry with a thoughtful look.

"Hidden somewhere?"

"Well, duh," said Phi. "He couldn't hid it on him. Not really."

"Are you saying Dio's been here before?"

"Yeah, probably. My guess is that he came here, his the device and snuck into the building."

"Snuck in?" asked Sigma in confusion as he peered at the transmitter. "What the hell is this thing?"

"It's a transmitter," said Harry with a shrug. "It's used for getting signals out. I think someone sent him here."

"Not that. These numbers. 78153 61098 83809 42419 90551… Is that a phone number?"

"Too long," said Harry as he shook his head.

"It's twenty five digits," added Phi.

"What is it then?" asked Sigma. Harry crouched down next to Dio and closed his eyes. A few snippets hit him before a torrent of information engulfed him. Most of it he suppressed before he gained control.

"Don't know. I assume it's some kind of code but I don't see a key to decode it with."

Dio burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" asked Dio.

"Apart from the fact that an untrained teen managed to see my whole life? And the fact that you guys had it so fucking backwards that I couldn't help myself. You can't find the key to decode it? Ask Harry here. He must have seen it. It's right in front of your face."

"What?" asked Phi in surprise.

"That's the key. The message is somewhere else. You need those 25 numbers to decode it."

That made sense to Harry. Some of what he saw of Dio's life confirmed it.

"Dio, what's going on here?" asked Sigma. "Who were you trying to call?"

"You don't know? At least one of you is appropriately ignorant."

Phi remained silent.

"Fine. Whatever. Might as well tell you. I didn't really have any reason to hide my identity now that my mission's a success. Besides, she'd tell you if I don't. Might as well hear it from the horse's mouth. I belong to an organisation called the Myrmidons. You've puts never heard of it. But there might be a few people who've heard of Free the Soul. If you haven't, it's a sacred religious order with over a million true believers."

"Religion. Don't tell me we have a religious war on our hands," muttered Harry.

"The Myrmidons are the hand of Free the Soul. We do what needs to be done to bring us closer to the new world Free the Soul promises. There are some people that would call us terrorists. Then again, from their point of view, we might be. We're trying to tear down the world they've built after all. But when the sun shines for the first time on our new world, we'll be hailed as saints. Holy messengers who cleaned the filth from a dying planet."

"What makes you think people will just accept that?"

"But not all the Myrmidons are guaranteed sainthood. You have to be raised with the teachings of Free the Soul from birth. Then you have to be chosen to join the ranks of the elite and do great things. Returning fun this mission would secure my position. Free the Soul is built around the teachings of a man called Brother who founded our order years ago. His teachings are too profound for ordinary people to understand but you could say that the core ideas are to separate oneself from worldliness, to destroy greed and to separate the soul from the body to cleanse it. Those who follow his teaching with discipline and devotion will be reborn as a new form of human."

"Subs like a mad man." Harry shook his head.

"This new species will be able to live in equality in a world without war or starvation. Brother was born into a poor family. I've been told that he didn't know his father and that he lost his mother at a young age. The only family he had was his younger brother. A boy called Left. They say brother had a strange power and that he was able to see the thoughts of other people and see into them. It left him constantly exposed to the dirty greed of mankind. When Brother was sixteen, Left was found dead. His body was covered in bruises but the police made a quick investigation and quickly ruled his death a suicide. Later, Brother would find out that the killer had paid the police a massive bribe to keep the truth hidden. He burned with rage but found himself in cold despair. One day he received a divine revelation. Mankind was thoroughly corrupted with greed. They had to be purified and a new world created. God had given Brother his mission. That was when he began to teach others the truth and at the age of 26, he created Free the Soul. Once Free the Soul was established, he focused his resources to research on human cloning so he could create the new species he'd foretold. He abducted... I mean invited to help him... a team of scientists from a research facility in the United States and a year later the first ten new humans were born. Those ten were the first generation of Myrmidons. Incidentally, im from the fourth generation. Our DNA comes from Left, Brothers younger brother. That means we all share a face. And we're all given the same name. Left."

"So, technically, you're Brother's brother."

"Some people think that weird but I think individuality is weird. If everyone looks the same, there's no such thing as race or even individually. With cloning, you start even need different genders. How could you get more equal than that? Still, there's a little random deviation and other factors can influence a clone's development. I was the best of my generation so i was chosen to lead the Myrmidons. I was probably sent here because Brother noticed my skills. My mission was to infiltrate the facility. When I was given my orders, I thought this was my chance. In all my life, I've only been punished once for breaking our laws. It had to do with woman. I had come into contact with someone unclean and considered corrupted. Even if I was pushed harshly and purified my soul, my dishonour remained. I wanted to prove my loyalty so I was determined to be successful. My entire purpose is to be a part of Brother's new world. Now that I've completed that purpose, for the first time in my life I understand what true happiness is. Oh Holy Father, Holy Brother, Holy Master. My sacred mission is at last complete. With these two hands, mankind is saved. I am your will made flesh. In your name, I give thanks."

Dio made an odd sign.

"I don't care about your mission," said Phi in anger. "You did this to us! Now you're going to..."

Phi lifted the rock over her head.

"What are you doing?" asked Sigma in slight confusion and horror.

"Shut up! You still haven't answered my question. I'm going to ask one more time. What is the password for the number zero bomb?"

"Bomb?" Sigma started.

"Goddamnit! Didn't I tell you to shut up?! Now tell me! What's the password?!"

_Don't intervene Harry._

She swung the rock downwards.

"Wait! Ok, ok. Fine. It's not going to do you any good though. I completed my mission. What are you going to do with the password at this point?"

"I don't think she's going to use it at this point," commented Harry with a shrug.

"Not your problem! Just give it to me! Otherwise..."

"Fine. No skin off my back. The password for the zero bomb is LXA QNS GDQ."

Phi tossed the rock aside.

"You heard that, right Sigma? Harry?"

"Huh?" asked Sigma.

"Of course we heard it."

"The password. I'm going to try to remember it but I won't know if I managed it until after I make the jump. There's a chance I won't remember anything. So you need to remember it. Just in case. Got it?"

Sigma nodded.

"Ok, we're done with you. Let's go."

"Go where?" asked Sigma.

"Not sure but I think he knows," said Phi as she nudged Dio who grunted.

"He had to have a way out," added Harry.

"Get up." Phi pulled Dio to his feet. He pulled his arm out of her grasp.

"Is there a town near here?" asked Sigma

"Yeah. Well, not really a city. More like a shelter. Some people who survived the disaster live there. They're not going to be pleased to see Harry. He did a wrong to them a long time ago."

"Disaster?" asked Sigma.

"what wrong?" asked Harry.

"Just shut up and follow me. You can see for yourself."

They trudged after Dio. Harry glanced up at the moon, still big and red. Way too big. A bright light hit his eyes.


End file.
